Chapter Twenty

The wrecked superbike flung shredded pieces of Type Four tentacle across Mrs. Apodaca’s classroom as the wheels spun. The girl who’d jumped off of it swung her weight - I recognized it as a meteor hammer - in front of her. She glanced over her shoulder and muttered to her Operator, “I have Olivia and two others. Tell Andre we need Sunny in here now.”

Then, with nothing more than a nod at me or the other two hurt girls, she sauntered out toward the Type Twenty-One. The ball whirled around as the cord wrapped around her foot. She spun and pulled her foot back, and the ball careened through the air, leaving a crater in the Twenty-One’s armor.

I blinked in surprise. As devastating as my Mana Surge or Overclock’s hammer had been, the ball had more than exceeded everything we’d done.

A second bike whined onto the gravel as the machine fell back. In front, a Pink Magical Girl in a sparkly helmet drove, while one in an amber skirt and blazer with no helmet held the drive tightly, screaming as they kicked up a spray of stones.

“Get off, get off, get off,” the Pink chattered, pushing the other girl.

The Orange slid off the bike, looking dizzy. Or sick. “Next time, I’m riding with Kyra.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “Okay, ResCute, I’ll keep the Twenty-One occupied. Sunburst, you’ve got two - no, three - wounded inside. And Kyra -”

“I’m smashing Fours and Ones, Jazzie.” The purple danced off toward a group of smaller machines, her meteor hammer spinning around her body and limbs.

“Uh, sure,” the Orange said. I watched as she rattled off a series of spells. “Max Threat Protocol, fifty meters, class three plus, upload! Enlarge! Stone Skin! Topaz Barrier!” The Type Twenty-One’s eye shifted to her as she doubled in height and her skin turned gray.

She charged at the machine as it rushed at her, and a stone shield erupted out of her right wrist to slam into the Mack. I watched as the two titans crashed into each other - but only for a second.

“Hi hi hello, I’m Sunburst - Oooh, there is a lot of blood in here, gross - and I’ll be your doctor today!” the Pink laughed. Her helmet came off, revealing short pink hair, light brown skin, and two wide pink eyes.

I blinked. Sunburst couldn’t have been more than fourteen. “H-hi. Overclock’s p-pretty bad off, and my friend needs help-p.” With the danger gone, my body started shaking. I dropped my knife, and it clattered to the ground as I sat down.

“Okay, don’t get your panties in a bunch!” Sunburst said. “Sun’s Kiss!”

My shoulder heated up. So did my hands and leg. I stared at my palms; they weren’t healed, but they weren’t bleeding either. It was like amber had been poured into the cuts.

“Now, Overclock - you’ve lost your arm. Tsk, tsk,” Sunburst was done with me, it seemed. She walked over to her teammate. “You used your Surge in a dumb place again, huh?”

“Shut up…shut up and get me fixed. The team needs me.”

“Oh, not happening, Olivia! You’re done for the day!” When Overclock tried to stand up, Sunburst’s silliness stopped instantly. “Andre, get me a QuikOut, a WoundWrap, and three HemoTonics!” The pile of medical supplies shimmered in next to her, and Sunburst jammed the QuikOut needle into Overclock’s arm before she could react.

I looked away as Overclock tried to wrestle with Sunburst over the IV in her arm.

The giant Orange - it must’ve been Jasper, ResCute’s leader - was trading blows with the Type Twenty-One. Though she hadn’t been able to hurt it, it couldn’t do much but retreat in front of her. They passed the ruined stage as they fought.

Kyra spun, wrapping the meteor hammer’s cord around her extended foot and hip as it hissed through the air. She bent her knee. The ball snapped forward. A split second later, a Type Four collapsed, its body caved in as the ball rocketed back into orbit around the dancing Magical Girl.

She snapped the ball at a Type One, which promptly exploded, then whipped it around to catch another.

“And…nightie-night, Olivia!” Sunburst had finished pinning the one-armed girl, who was unconscious. “Do me a favor, new girl, and slide me that HemoTonic!”

I kicked it to her and she jammed it into Overclock’s leg. “Better do one on yourself too!”

She slid over to Sora as I jammed the needles into my thigh and winced as the two-minute timer started.

“Holy moly! You two did this?” Sunburst asked. She laughed again.”

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“Y-yes. Sora’s my best friend, d-don’t let anything happen to her!”

“Oh, she’ll be fine! I’m really good at this! But what you two did to her? That’s just not fixable.” She shook her head solemnly.

I felt panic rising inside me. What had we done wrong? “Did we hurt her?”

“Oh yes! Do you have any idea how long it’ll take her to poop out all that QuickCl - down! Star Ray!”

I ducked, wincing as my arm brushed a table. Three beams of brilliant white light connected from Sunburst’s fingers to a trio of Type Ones, coring their bodies out.

“Kyra! Jasper! I can’t work in these conditions!” she whined.

I hiccupped. Then I giggled. It was absurd. I’d been about to die, and now a fourteen-year-old Magical Girl was complaining to her team after destroying three Macks in a second?

“I’m busy, Sunny!” Jasper’s voice echoed across the campus as she continued to tussle with the big machine.

The meteor hammer tore through the wall, spalling concrete chunks off into the room. It crashed into another Type One. “Fine. I’ll help,” Kyra sighed. “Cameron, I’m bored. Surprise me.” She held out her hands, dropping the meteor hammer.

A second later, a pair of matching short swords shimmered into her grip. “Really? Fine.” She swooshed them through the air in short, simple motions. A Type Four pushed its way through the rubble. She set her feet, waiting. The first spiked tentacle shot at her, and she moved her head slightly. Her swords flashed, and the tentacle was gone.

A moment later, so was the rest of the Type Four. The rest of the onrushing Macks followed the way it had gone.

“Thanks, Kyra, you’re a real gem!” Sunburst grinned.

The giant girl outside stopped for a second, arms pushing against the Type Twenty-One. “I’m the only gem you need, Sunny!”

“If you need me again, yell.” The Purple Magical Girl ran to go help Jasper with the big machine.

With the Macks dealt with, Sunburst sat back down next to Sora. She started peeling the WoundWrap off my friend’s stomach, wincing as she screamed. Once the wrap was off, she peered inside my friend’s wound.

“Yep, that’s way too much QuickClot. She’ll have the runs for a week. Maybe two. Andre, be a pal and get me another QuikOut. I’m gonna have to push some mana into her to start fixing this, and it’ll hurt!”

I looked away as Sora started whimpering and then went to sleep. I didn’t want to see her hurting. It was too much.

The fight outside was a nice distraction from the magical surgery going on behind me.

The stalemate between Jasper and the Type Twenty-One had ended with both of them in the pit, unable to get out with the other pressuring them. They traded swings and blocks until Cobra-Kyra leaped into the fight.

She landed between Jasper’s legs, two swords in hand. A trio of arms arced up and smashed back down. Jasper caught one with her shield, and Kyra stepped inside the gap.

Her swords flashed as she swung at the Type Twenty-One’s arms. A blade cut through plastic and steel, and one arm crashed to the ground. Then, the next one fell. And another.

I watched the machine try to retreat, swinging its remaining arms at Kyra. She dodged them, and Jasper slammed into the machine’s side. It teetered. Then it fell with a thud.

Kyra rolled through the flailing arms. She stabbed her swords into its eye. Once. Twice. A third time.

The machine stopped. What was left of its eye faded to dark.

The Emergence was over.

Jasper shrunk back down to something approaching normal size. She and Kyra walked back over to where I sat against the wall. Sora had stopped moaning, although Sunburst was wrist-deep in her stomach.

Jasper cleared her throat, and Sunburst shot her a stink-eye. “I’m working here. Say it to the back of my head!”

“Alright, alright, Sunny! Okay, team, medivac is on the way, so…wait, did you knock out Olivia?”

“Yeppers! She was refusing medical attention again.”

“Oookay then,” Jasper sighed. “Medivac is on its way. Sunny, you’re with them. The new girl is fine, and Olivia will be okay, but I don’t want the civvie dying on the way to Saxe Point Memorial. I’m going inside to clear the school and open up the shelter. Kyra, you -”

“I’m bored. I’m going hunting.”

“...You know what? Fine. I hope you find a Type Thirty-Two.”

“Excuse me,” I raised my hand, “my dad’s in the shelter. I need to go with you. I need to make sure he’s okay!”

“No, you don’t.” Jasper’s face was carved from wood. Then it softened. “Listen, Luciole. James told our Operators about everything you’ve done already. You had no business being in this situation, and you did great. Let us take it from here. You’ll get a stretcher, a helicopter ride, and a hospital bed at Saxe Point.”

“Luciole, Jasper is right,” James said in my ear. “Your part is done. Overclock and your friend are safe, and there’s nothing inside the school that’s a threat to Jasper or Kyra. In an hour, your dad will be out. In two, he’ll be at the hospital with you. I’m freezing your mana organs’ production.”

I wanted to hate James for shutting me out of my powers. I wanted to hate Jasper for not letting me help my dad. But I was just too tired.

James spoke up in my ear. “Okay, the mana’s not propping you up anymore. Before you fall asleep, though, I need you to do something for me.”

“...What?” I yawned. The floor looked pretty inviting.

“Give me back to Overclock.”

I nodded. “You’ve been a good friend, James. I’ll see you soon, right?”

“Sooner than you think, Alice.”

I staggered over to Overclock and pushed her blood-matted curls away from her ear. I pulled James’s chip and slotted it into her drive port.

As I fell asleep next to her, the sound of helicopter blades was the last thing I heard.