"This whole plan stinks," complained Natasha, who, despite having transformed into Gentle Breeze, was wearing a dress that was no longer entirely yellow. "Literally."

"You're preaching to the converted," agreed Stacy, who was lucky enough to be the only girl without a shovel, leaving her hands free to hold her nose. She'd transformed too, as had all the girls, but their magical protections did nothing to deaden their senses of smell. If anything, it only sharpened them. Alas, given the physical labour they were partaking in, the strength boost of their transformations was a must.

"Just shut up and dig," said Tracy.

Mary, who'd had the foresight to bung a pair of plugs up her nostrils, said nothing and continued to shovel dirt in silence.

"Are we even sure William can pinpoint Decay's location accurately enough to target him?" continued Natasha.

"We've already been over this," said Tracy. "You really need to listen more closely to our discussions."

"Sorry, but when you opened with 'climb down into the sewers and dig a hole straight upwards', I figured the plan was so bloody stupid that of course we wouldn't try it, so there was no point in paying attention."

"As long as he's close enough, yes, I can," said William, whose alien sense of smell meant that he wasn't bothered by the sewage flowing down an open channel only a metre away from where the magical girls were digging. "The biggest problem we'll face is ensuring I don't get caught up in the explosion."

"Oh, right, there was that part of the plan, too," nodded Stacy. "I think that was the point I decided you couldn't possibly be serious."

"Explosions?" asked Natasha. "That sounds exciting. I might have kept listening if I knew there would be explosions."

"You two are hopeless," sighed Tracy.

"Hey!" complained Stacy. "That's not a very sisterly thing to say. At least I kept listening, unlike a certain someone."

"How I have a sister that's so completely unlike me is..."

"All done," said Mary, speaking up for the first time.

""Oh,"" said Stacy and Tracy in perfect synchronisation.

"So, now what?" asked Natasha, looking around the hole they'd dug. They'd cut a small passage into the wall of a sewer, then dug upward, reaching the underside of the pavement above. A few beams of wood were all that prevented an immediate collapse, and the magical powers of Resilient Nature, shifting the dislodged soil, were the only reason their activities hadn't blocked up the sewer.

As if those activities weren't dangerous enough, a few gas cylinders clustered at the base of the excavation—looted by Tracy from her father's caravan—promised that there was room for the danger to grow far worse.

"Now we plug up this hole," answered Tracy.

"We need to rebuild the sewer wall? We kept all the bricks, but don't we need cement?"

"No, because we're about to blow up this whole sewer. We don't need to be neat. Just stack them up. Then you, Mary and I go outside to wait, while William waits in the sewer with Stacy. When William gives the signal, Stacy uses her powers to collapse the pit trap and skewer the gas cylinders. Nat, you use your powers to keep the gas contained in the pit, then, as Decay falls in, I launch a fireball in from outside to explode it all. Stacy keeps using her powers to protect herself and William from the explosion, and collapses as much earth as possible onto Decay."

"So we drop him, blow him up, and then bury him," nodded Natasha as Stacy magically summoned a few pillars of earth into the breech.

"Exactly. And Mary puts out any fires and you... uh... deal with any emergencies that crop up."

"Emergencies? Like what?"

"Never mind," said William. "Decay is approaching. We need to get into position."

"I have a bad feeling about this," complained Stacy. "How are you going to explain to Dad where his camping barbecue supplies have gone?"

"He never uses them. You know that," said Tracy. "Those canisters are as old as we are!"

"Just because he'll never use them doesn't mean he won't notice they're gone."

Tracy didn't answer, having already climbed halfway up towards the manhole they'd used to enter. Mary was above her, opening up the cover and trusting in the magical filter to ensure no pedestrians above paid them any attention.

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"This is never going to work," grumbled Stacy to herself.

"An opinion that would have been better expressed a couple of days ago, when this plan was being discussed," said William.

"I didn't think Tracy was being serious! She's right, though. However do I have a twin sister so unlike me?"

"It's not as if you're identical twins."

"So? We should still be half-alike. What if there are civilians in the street?"

"Then we simply abort and try again when Decay returns home. I'll be able to detect anyone close enough to be in danger."

"Bah. The sooner Decay is out of the way and we can get back to honest fighting, the better."

"Then make sure you make this attack count! He's about four minutes away."

Stacy passed the time in silence, mostly cursing the fact that her earth element abilities had left her in the sewer while the other girls had escaped into fresher air.

"He's almost here. No civilians in range, and with the path he's taking, he's going to walk right over the trap. Five..."

Stacy, who was still convinced this was a bloody stupid plan, tensed as she prepared to unleash her magic.

"Four..."

Tracy peered around a chimney stack, watching the Bane. On the surface, she didn't know exactly where their pit trap was, but she knew it must only be a matter of seconds until it was triggered. A small flame smouldered in her hand, ready to detonate their makeshift bomb.

"Thr... Huh? I mean three..."

"Hey, what was that? What's wrong?" asked Stacy, somewhat alarmed.

"Two..."

"Don't just ignore me!"

"No time! Later! One!"

"Dammit!"

"Now!"

Stacy flexed her magic, and the pavement crumbled.

Decay had just enough time to flash a look of surprise before he fell.

"Pyro Bullet!" yelled Tracy, launching her fireball straight at the pit.

Stacy sprinted, William flying ahead of her. "Earthen Wall! Earthen Wall! Earthen Wall!" she yelled, raising as many barriers as possible behind her with no regard for what they were doing to the flow of sewage. After all, the pipe was about to have bigger problems.

Decay had declared there was no way to take him out without substantial collateral damage, and after his most recent demonstration, the girls were inclined to agree. That being the case, they'd done their best to ensure the damage was limited to a street, and not something that would be measured in lives or even private property. The street could be rebuilt.

Tracy's fireball impacted the pit. Even through the layers of earth, the shock-wave bowled Stacie over. Every window in the street shattered as tall flames blossomed into the air. Broken fragments of stone and clods of earth followed them, raining down over the area.

"Collapse it! Hurry!" yelled William.

Stacy threw up. Having just fallen face first into a stream of sewage, who could blame her? Especially as the blockage behind her meant that the level of waste was quickly rising.

"Collapse it! Bury him!" repeated William.

"Urk..." groaned Stacy, trying to focus her magic behind herself. "Sinkhole!"

She stumbled forward, desperately trying to locate a ladder as the sewage spilled out of its channel and rose up around her ankles.

Outside, the other three girls watched nervously as the ground collapsed around the site of the explosion.

"Did it work?" asked Natasha.

"I... think so..." carefully said Mary, who, despite her words, was trembling, unable to shake the image of Decay bursting out of the crater and taking his revenge against them, just like in the girder incident.

"We need William to confirm," said Tracy, her gaze carefully searching the street. The fire had been short-lived, limited to a single explosion, and hadn't spread, but a water main had obviously been ruptured because a ten-foot fountain was spraying out of the street. Coupled with the damage to the sewer, the stores lining the street were likely to have a bad night.

"We should get out of here," opined Natasha. "I think this is a little beyond what our perception filter can help with..."

"Yes, please," agreed Mary, albeit for very different reasons.

"We need to pick up Stacy and William first," pointed out Tracy. "They should be coming from that manhole over there."

The girls turned to look, and so were facing away from the crater when it exploded for a second time, this time without any fire but plenty of raw force.

There was also a rather inhuman screech.

"Run!" screamed Mary.

"Not without my sister!" answered Tracy, leaping toward the manhole.

She didn't reach it. Decay, no longer cloaked in any semblance of human disguise, dropped between the girl and her target. He stood at his full three metres, but several chitin plates were missing, and his hair, thin enough to start with, was entirely gone, the stubble smouldering. His flesh was charred, deep burns covering his exposed skin.

He snarled, his voice containing no more language than his body did disguise. Nevertheless, the meaning was completely clear. He held a single arm outstretched. The shocked magical girl didn't have time to change direction, her momentum carrying her straight into the waiting claws.

There was surprisingly little noise. Tracy simply came to a sudden halt, suspended two feet from the ground. There wasn't even any evidence of blood, her dress already a deep enough red that the spreading wetness didn't show. Nevertheless, the four claws protruding from her back made it clear that her life hung in the balance.

So did the fact that her transformation shattered. And then the blood showed, a circular patch expanding around the claws, dying her white t-shirt in her trademark blood red. More blood poured from her mouth as she choked, the claws having punctured straight through a lung.

"Tracy!" yelled Natasha, desperately charging forward to save her friend.

Mary, her trauma-induced visions having come true before her eyes, was in no condition to help. She simply curled into a ball and whimpered.

Decay, for his part, showed none of his usual sneering or smirking. His eyes held nothing but rage as he lifted Tracy high into the air, supported by nothing more than the claws running through her torso, and threw her straight at Natasha.

The yellow magical girl did her best to catch her friend, the force pushing her backward into a wall. Her dress, already filthy from her time in the sewer, acquired a few new splashes of red.

"Run..." mumbled Tracy, weakly.

Natasha looked around wildly. Neither Mary nor Tracy were in any state to escape, nor could she carry both to safety. It was unlikely she could escape herself, even without the additional weight. Decay was charging at a speed that belayed his wounds, his extended claws leaving deep scores in the road.

Natasha swore, lay Tracy down as gently as she could given the time constraints, and took a fighting stance.

"Like hell I'd abandon you..." she muttered. "Whatever the cost."

Decay sliced downwards.

Blood splattered.

Natasha screamed.