A guttural roar shook the battlefield; loud, almost deafening, filled with such palpable hatred that everyone else in the area could feel it. It was hot, like walking into a burning building.

The fighters stilled, looking in the direction of the irate girl with varying degrees of surprise. They all bore witness to a literal blaze of green fire surrounding the most recent magical warrior before she rushed forward like a bullet, crashing into the ant-like warrior with the full force of a speeding train.

The alien dug his feet into the ground, almost futilely so, as he was still dragged several yards by the sheer power behind Brittany’s attack, leaving a long trench in the floor as they slowed to a stop.

The ant-like being’s pincers clicked with strain as he fought to keep the irate magical girl off of him, using all four of his arms in pushing forward against the shield he’d conjured to defend himself against his foe.

Brittany snarled, the green fire around her flaring wildly as she brought her hands back for a moment. The gems in the back of her hands cracked with the pressure of the surrounding flames abruptly flowing into them; the green glow quickly spread to the girl’s fingers, sharpening her nails and elongating them a couple of inches before she plunged them right through the magical metal of the conjured shield.

The alien cursed, pulling his shield in four different directions; jumping backwards as he began to repurpose the energy into something else. He quickly had to settle into four swords, at first to block and bat away Starlight Green’s flying swords, and then to defend himself against the girl’s steel-strong claws.

Sparks flew with each strike, and the ant-like being found himself on the back foot for quite a few moments before managing to slip into the girl’s guard, stabbing her through the stomach and—His follow-up attack was interrupted by the green-clad magical warrior immediately wrapping her hands around the alien’s throat in a vice-like grip.

With the awkward angle, the extraterrestrial warrior was unable to properly use two of his swords—not that he rightly could, needing to use his topmost sword to defend against the six flying blades, this time with a much lesser degree of success. Desperate, he jammed the free sword in his lower left hand into the girl’s abdomen.

Brittany gurgled, hunched forward slightly before snapping her head upwards with a roar that quickly became a gout of flame spewing from her mouth, nailing her foe straight in the face with the scorching heat.

Out of options, the alien let go of the swords, allowing them to dissipate, and grabbed the girl’s wrists with his lower hands before slamming his upper forearms on his attacker’s inner elbows, forcing her to let go and thus allowing him to gain some much needed distance from the green clad warrior.

Brittany took a step forward, but fell to one knee as her injured body faltered. She curled over herself, clutching her hands around the wounds in her gut while letting out a pained whine.

Ahead of the hunched over girl, the alien wasn’t faring much better, clutching at his face with two hands while keeping the other two held outwards, a purple glow flowing from them and into the faint sphere that he erected around his body.

Starlight Red looked between their opponent and her comrades, indecision clear in her face.

“Go!” Yellow called, lurching forward with a few stumbling steps. “We’ll be fine, go!” She reiterated, limping towards her hunched over best friend. Kneeling down, one hand still on her side to cover the wound she’d received, she placed her free hand on the other girl’s back.

With that assurance, the red-clad magical warrior turned to face the extraterrestrial warrior, sword and shield tightly held in her hands.

Starlight Red surged forward, weapon sparkling with red energy as she swung at her foe, who moved nary an inch as the blade made contact with the shield he’d erected. She then rammed her shield into the magical bubble, only to receive the same result as before.

It was then that, with a snarl, Starlight Green jumped back into combat; rushing forwards like a wild animal and ramming her body against the shield the alien attacker had erected around himself. She dug her claws into the magical barrier, making several root-like cracks appear on the shield, and then she began to pull, snarling as her feet slid on the ground in an attempt to pry the magic bubble open.

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Capitalizing on that, the red-clad magical warrior swung her sword, adding to the splintering of the magical barrier. And after another strike with her shield, there was a loud popping sound as a crooked horizontal line appeared around the middle of the bubble.

Suddenly, in quick flashes of blue, Starlight Blue teleported in, first to the corridor itself, and then inside the bubble that was acting as a barrier between the ant-like alien and the rest of the world. Once inside, she elbowed the surprised invader in the face before dragging him outside with another teleportation.

Without its caster, the shield bubble shattered. And suddenly without a counterbalance, the animalistic green-clad magical girl stumbled several steps backwards before crashing to the floor, landing on her back with a pained gasp.

Rushing in before the alien could erect another shield, Starlight Red scored a hit on his upper left arm, nearly cutting the whole limb off before the four-armed being managed to get away.

It wasn’t for long, as suddenly, a shimmering blue rapier stabbed through his left shoulder. Starlight Blue teleported away from the alien’s retaliatory attack, appearing behind the creature with her free hand pointing at him; a bright blue glow emanating from it for a second before a ball of energy blasted forward and exploded on the alien’s back, soon followed by another, and then a few more.

Ahead of the four-armed being, Starlight Read prepared to swing again. And so, unable to go forward or backwards, the alien went sideways, crashing through a wall of lockers to escape his foes.

The leader of the magical team looked behind herself, worry evident in her eyes as she gazed over Bethany and Brittany, the yellow-clad girl helping her green-wearing best friend to her feet. “Are you guys okay?” She asked, briefly glancing to the side as Starlight Blue teleported away.

Brittany, for her part, let out a pained gurgle as she placed a hand over one of her wounds, eyes clenched shut in agony.

“We’ll be okay,” Bethany breathed out. “Go get that thing! I’ll take care of her!”

Starlight Red nodded, and quickly flew in through the hole left in the wall to give chase to her blue-clad teammate and their foe.

“Girl, come on, breathe,” Starlight Yellow pleaded, adjusting her hold so she could better support her best friend. “That was scary as hell—why didn’t you tell me you were magical?!”

“I-imagine that… conversation…” Starlight Green tried to joke, rasping painfully as she forced herself to walk. She opened her mouth to say something else, but choked when a cloud of steam came out instead, leading her to a minor coughing fit.

“I guess you’re right,” Beth let out a desperate chuckle. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

“Girls!” A new voice startled the two injured warriors. Just ahead of them was Cassandra, brown eyes wide with worry as she ran towards them.

“Are you fucking insane?!” Beth cried out in shock. “What the hell are you still doing here?!”

The Asian girl narrowed her eyes in offense at the words. “Did you really think I’d leave you two?”

An incredulous look crossed the features of the magical warriors.

“You dumb bitch,” Brittany rasped out.

“Girl, I love you, but this is not the time for anime shit!” Beth let out an exasperated sigh. “I thought the Japanese weren’t supposed to be weaboos.”

“I’m Chinese, you skank,” one of Cassandra’s eyes twitched in annoyance. “And I can fight—”

“Karate alone can’t make up for literal magic, Cass,” the yellow-clad girl grimaced, but before she could continue talking, a loud explosion shook the building, turning her concern into outright fear. “Come on, since you’re here, help me carry Brit, quick!”

Cassandra held back on what she wanted to say, instead rushing to take Brittany’s other side to better support her

“I think I’m gonna throw up…”

“Brit, my shoes are brand new,” the Chinese girl growled. “Lose your guts later.”

“Fuck… you…” the green-clad girl let out a pained rasp of a laugh.

“If you can joke, then you’re fine,” Starlight Yellow let out a shuddering sigh, relief flooding through her. “Let’s get you out of here, girl.”

“W-what about you?” Starlight Green coughed, sparing a glance at the blood soaking her best friend’s side.

“I used a healing spell—it doesn’t clean the blood, and it shortens my time in the suit, but you know, it keeps me from bleeding out,” Beth explained. “I’ll teach it to you as soon as we find a safe place to rest.”

“Okay…” Brittany weakly nodded her consent.

Cassandra felt a great amount of concern for her friends. Being a Magical Girl was not as easy as anime made it seem. And the consequences of a big fight were very real.