Chapter Text
The wind blew down the street, cutting through my coat. Shivering, I pulled it tighter and tried to duck down next to a wall to avoid the next gust. I hated dealing with the cold; It made it harder to wait in the light, where I was sure I would be seen. But, at least, the forecast said it would be a clear night. The moonlight lit the street well enough that I thought my pink hair would stand out, so hopefully that wouldn't be a problem. I pulled up a bit on my sleeve and checked my watch. Ines wasn’t usually this late.
At the end of the street, a flash of orange hair came into view and I waved. “Ines!” My partner raised her hand and waved back, huffing and puffing as she ran down the street, her wavy hair billowing a bit behind her. Before I could warn her, a gust blew her small form off course and straight into a light pole. I shot up at the sound of the clang, Ines’s groans getting louder as I approached her sprawled-out form on the ground.
“Ines, are you okay?” She rubbed her forehead, her orange hair waving over her shoulders.
Groaning, she picked herself up and smiled at me. “Sorry I’m late, Felicity.” She had to look up to meet my eyes.
I gave her a look over. She held one eye closed in pain as she poked the sore spot on her forehead, a bit red against her brown skin. Underneath her coat, she was wearing thin pajama top and bottoms patterned with the symbols of Team Sparkle, an old magical girl team that was down to one active member. I laughed. “Pajamas? Really?”
Pulling her coat tight around her, she stuck her tongue out at me. “There was a rerun of Team Sparkle’s best moments and you know I wasn’t gonna miss that!” I caught her shiver and she put up a hand before I could speak. “Don’t start, I’ll be warm again in a minute.”
Seven years of friendship and Ines would never change. Frankly, I was kind of silly for expecting anything else. I sighed. “I guess you didn’t check the report today, then?”
Ines shook her head and I rolled my eyes. She opened her eyes wide, holding her hands together and I laughed. “Alright, Ines, I’ll go over the details. But you seriously have to read it one of these days.”
She hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “But you explain it so well!” I tried to give her my death stare but she just winked at me. Ines was a handful, but she was my handful.
Sighing again, I pushed her off. “We have the area toward the Barrier again, so watch yourself tonight. And we have a cameraman today.”
Ines nodded, and I turned to point him out. The camera guy gave a small wave from near the wall I’d been using for wind cover, shifting his camera on his shoulder. “Hi, I’m Lev, if you wouldn’t mind just give me a quick introduction, then we can catch the transformations and you two can get to work.” He adjusted his glasses and turned back to his camera, only watching us through the viewport. At least he would be professional.
I turned to him. “Felicity Chance, Magical Girl Bubble Blow.” Brushing my hair out of my face, I struck my pose, two fingers forming a ‘V’ in front of my face.
Ines stepped out in front of me and waved. “Ines Santos, Magical Girl Bubble Blast at your service!” The top of her head barely reached my chin. I tried to keep from laughing as she struck her pose, a thumbs up while she winked.
He gave a thumbs up in return and I turned to Ines as the announcement played. “Attention all girls. The time is now 9:55 PM. Please make sure you are back inside your homes, with all windows and doors locked.” Ines shuffled out from behind me, gave a small bow, and held out an arm as if to let me proceed. I nodded, took a deep breath, and transformed.
Despite never getting to see what it looked like in person, I’d seen enough of our videos to know what it looked like from the outside. As the symbol over my heart glowed pink, a circle with a bit of a tail like a blown bubble, I blew all the air in my lungs into a bubble of pink energy, which grew until it surrounded me and burst with a pop, revealing me in my costume: A pink jacket with long white sleeves featuring my symbol on the back, a short pink skirt with a white line running around the bottom, and long pink socks with white sneakers. My hair was now in pigtails which fell down over my shoulders lazily.
Ines gave a long drawn out “Woooow!” and I turned and glared at her. She shrunk down a bit, though she was still smiling.
Lev snapped, drawing my attention, and gave a small thumbs up. “Alright, and Bubble Blast?”
Ines stepped forward and put her hands on her hips. “You got it!” My eyes went wide. A quick overview of my surrounding revealed no nearby cover. Without any alternatives, I ran behind the nearby light pole just in time for Ines to transform. She winked, the bomb-in-clouds symbol on her right eyelid glowing bright orange, and an explosion of energy rushed out, nearly taking Lev out as he was filming. I held on tight to the pole until the wave passed by. At its epicenter now stood Magical Girl Bubble Blast, her orange hair blowing in the wind as she lowered her pilot goggles down over her eyes. She shrugged her brown aviator jacket up on her shoulders and stomped a bit in her combat boots, brushing down the tiered skirt on her dress. “Never gets the fit exactly right,” she mumbled.
I walked back over to her and smiled. “How is it that you get your jacket to be bigger than you every time?”
She shrugged. “Beats me. It’s supposed to fit, isn’t it? Maybe I’m supposed to grow more.”
I laughed. "If you were gonna grow more, I think it probably would have started by now." With a wave, I beckoned to Lev. “Shall we get going?” Our cameraman, disheveled but holding his camera steady, gave a thumbs up. The announcement began to play, and Ines and I met eyes.
“Attention all girls. The time is now 9:59 P.M. Please make sure you are transformed and ready.”
Ines looked over at me. “Bubble Blow, can you give me some height?”
I nodded. “Brace yourself.” Holding my hands together, I pulled them apart and suddenly had a pink, squishy stretchy substance between them: My “gum,” the power the Founders had so graciously gifted me with. I swung it around myself to stretch it out, then swung it around the light pole, catching the other end as it came around. I stretched it a bit against the post then nodded to Ines. Nodding back, she jumped up onto the gum which held under her weight as she ran up, then jumped up to a nearby roof. Normally getting high would be a bigger pain, but the buildings here were short enough to climb easily.
I cupped my hands and shouted, “Call out if you see anything!” then released my left hand, letting the gum sling it back around the pole into my right. Ines made no indication she heard me, so I took the opportunity to walk around a bit, keeping an eye out for any monsters. The Inner Barrier activated as we stood, covering the ground in a pure white sheen, almost like pearls. A nice midnight blue covered the windows and doors, and strange marks outlining columns and arches with swirls appeared over each one. The street level seemed clear. I called up again to Ines, “Where are we headed?”
She peeked her head over the side of the building, pulling her goggles up. “Off to the south, looks like a group. Wanna bomb ‘em?”
I nodded. “Give me a sec.” Turning to Lev, I smiled. “You might wanna stay down there, you’ll get a better view.” Then I launched my gum at the top of the roof, one end sticking to the edge. I pulled back on it, and then willed it to contract. With a rush I flew through the air, timing my ascent so I could vault over the roof wall and land on the flat surface above.
Ines waved me over and pointed out a group of monsters milling about near a park. I had to squint to see them clearly in the distance. “We can probably hit ’em from here.” She banged her knuckles on a set of radiators build solidly into the roof. “And these are good anchors.”
Nodding, I attached the two ends of my gum to the radiators, letting it stretch between them. Then I spied the monsters and started to pulled back on the strand, walking backwards to pull it far enough. I wet an end of my finger and raised it up, measuring the feel of the wind as it blew past.
Ines gave me a look. “You got the angle?”
I turned over to her and nodded. “Yeah. Give it 120 seconds, I think, just to be safe.”
Ines winked. Suddenly she had a bomb in her hand, one of those big round ones with a fuse burning down. She tossed it to me and I instinctively reached out, barely grabbing it by the fuse. “Seriously, Ines!”
She laughed and pointed at me. “Hey, we use titles on camera! Besides, it’s not gonna go off ‘til it burns down.” I stuck my tongue out at her and she smiled. “Doesn’t look as good on you, Feli.” The hissing of the burning fuse in my hand brought my attention back to the bomb.
Taking a few seconds, I moved a bit to the right then put the bomb against the stretched-out gum in my hand. A small gust blew by, which I waited to pass as the fuse continued to hiss. Finally, after I finished counting to 15 in my head, I let go. The gum snapped forward, throwing the bomb into the air with a whistle. I kept counting until I hit 120 and heard the boom as the bomb exploded in the distance.
Ines whooped next to me, her goggles down over her eyes again, and shouted, “Hope you caught that one!” down to the street, laughing. She smiled at me, shifting the goggles back off her eyes. “Nice shot, Feli! You hit one of them on the nose before the bomb blew. Want another one, or wanna fight street level?”
I ran up to my gum strand and started to pull back. If I couldn’t still see the smoke from the explosion, I wouldn’t know I'd hit anything at this distance. The only other sign was the shadows in the distance moving in our direction. “Gimme one at 60 and then head down, they’ll probably be on us in a bit.”
She nodded and prepped another bomb while I adjusted my position. Once I was ready, she handed it over and I briefly thanked the Founder she didn’t throw it at me this time. “Don’t keep me waiting too long!” Ines then called up a bomb with a really long fuse and tossed it in the air, grabbing the long end of the rope and whirling it in a circle to her side. Then she was gone, headed over to the edge of the roof to deal with the ground floor enemies. I nodded and she jumped down, leaving me to take aim. The monsters in the distance were on their way, having figured out where the bomb had come from, but I had planned for that. Counting again in my head to 15, I let the bomb in my hand loose and then followed my gum strand toward the edge of the roof. While counting up to 60, I loosened my gum from the radiators and mashed it back together into my hand. On 60 I checked my target and sure enough, another set of monsters exploded in a flash of orange fire.
I heard Ines shout from below, “Nice one!” Sticking my gum to the edge of the roof, I jumped down, swinging on it until I could run on the ground before I released it. Ines was still swinging a bomb by the fuse, though it had grown considerably shorter since I’d last seen it. As I landed, she swung harder and then released, sending the bomb hurtling towards the group of oncoming monsters. At first, they looked sort of like those ‘sheep’ we were told about in Outer Science, but they had much bigger horns and their fluff looked much more like barbed wire than wool. The bomb slammed into one of their faces, then rolled a bit before going off. Those monsters close enough to get caught in the blast went flying or turned to mist, while others were blown off course as they charged.
As I retracted my gum back into a single lump, Ines pulled up another bomb and threw it, catching another ‘sheep’ in the face before the bomb exploded. She turned to me and shouted “Incoming!” as one of the beasts changed path towards me. I swung my gum around and hooked a nearby one by the horn, pulling it between the oncoming beast. Both careened into the wall next to me, tangled in a mess of wire. I looked to Ines, who called a bomb and swung it by the fuse straight into a creature’s face to dissipate it into shadow. As I approached her, I cracked my gum like a whip, a few of the monsters keeping their distance as they raced past us. Between bombs and gum strikes, we kept them away from us and our camera man, who was frankly doing an amazing job not getting trampled or gored or otherwise injured. But while we had made sure none of them came straight at us, quite a few of them had gone straight past us and were turning around at the other end of the street.
We looked at each other as the horde prepared to charge and Ines smiled, swinging a bomb by the fuse in a circle. “You ready, Bubble Blow?”
I smiled. “You know it, Bubble Blast.”
The last monster burst into shadows as the announcement played. “The Inner Barrier will deactivate shortly. Please make sure the streets are clear of monsters, and take care on your way home.” I waved to Lev and Ines and headed back home, transforming back to my normal outfit as soon as they were out of view. After a long night of fighting, I welcomed the cool of the breeze despite my shivering. Fortunately for me, Lev and Ines lived in the same direction which meant I didn’t have to walk anyone home. The almost marble-colored barrier faded out beneath my feet, the cement beneath echoing against my steps. There weren’t a lot of monsters out here, given that there weren’t as many people this far from City center, but I still kept my ears open for anything strange. I paused once I made it to the light on my street corner, closing my eyes to focus. Some nights I needed to have the breath before my next big challenge, facing my neighbor.
About five minutes later, I stopped at my door. I appreciated, at least, getting to patrol near my house rather than having to take a long trip back; it meant I could take my time without worrying anyone. As I fumbled with my keys, a wind gust hit me and knocked it out of my hand. My entire key ring clattered down the front steps, sending small metal objects scattering everywhere. I lunged after it, feeling at the ground only to find brown winter boots in front of my eyes.
I looked up to see a beautiful smile framed by long waves of white hair, fading into pink at the ends. Behind it was Magnolia Woodson, AKA Magical Girl Petal Grow, part of a thematic team one year older than ours that had skyrocketed in popularity. She wore a long brown coat over a rather nice green dress, probably something she wore after doing a bit of press. They’d had a lot of interviews to do lately, but the person she was on the news wasn’t the person I knew. I just knew that since I’d met her the first time, I hadn’t been able to get her face out of my head. So, of course, my brain went into panic mode upon finding her standing over me, looking down quizzically at my predicament. Fortunately, she couldn’t read the panicked thoughts now going through my head. She smiled and gave a short wave before putting her hand back into her pocket. “You all right, Felicity? Did you lose something?”
I grabbed the last of my keys and jumped to my feet, blushing. “Y-yeah, I’m good.” I swung my key ring around one finger. “Just, uh, dropped my keys.”
Magnolia giggled, a sound that sounded like chimes in my ears. “Better be careful. Don’t want to have to sneak in through my window again.”
I had done that a few years ago when I’d first started going out. I forgot my keys and Magnolia found me outside my house, trying to figure out how to get in. She’d offered to let me jump from her balcony, which happened to be close enough to my window to make it pretty safely. If I hadn’t left it open, I would have been stuck. The memory made me laugh, and I smiled back at her. “Yeah, um, I’ll try not to lose them.”
She nodded. “How was your night?”
I shrugged. “Nothing too bad. Your night good too, Maggie?” She told me to call her that after I called her “Miss Petal Grow” for our first week of friendship.
She smiled, the light of the streetlamp making her face shimmer. “Yeah, it was good. Hope you sleep well for tomorrow.” She walked past me to her own door as I fiddled with the keys in my hands. My heartbeat pulsing in my own ears blocked out my senses until I heard the click of her door opening. The burning question in my head bubbled to the surface, beating at the edge of my thoughts until I couldn’t stop my mouth from opening.
“Magnolia!”
She turned to me as I realized I had just shouted her name, and her full one at that. “Felicity?”
I swallowed and turned towards her. The wind blew my hair into my face and I closed my eyes. “Would you like to go out sometime?”
I opened my eyes again and she looked at me, the space between our front doors suddenly feeling like a chasm. A gust blew past me and she just stared in silence. Then she spoke, “Sorry, Felicity, could you repeat that? The wind cut you off there.”
My heart beat picked up again. I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak but nothing came, so I closed my eyes and forced the words to come out a second time. “Would you like to go out sometime?”
For a moment it was silent save for my blood pumping in my head. I tried to force my eyes to open, but they refused. I heard a small gasp, then Maggie spoke with a tinge of sadness. “Oh, Felicity. I’m sorry. I’m already dating someone and-”
I cut her off, laughing. My sight had returned, and I could see the concern in her eyes. “Nope, no worries! It’s fine, forget I said anything!”
I jammed my key at the lock, surprised I could get it so easily with my eyes filling with tears. Maggie off to my left shouted “Wait! Felicity!” as I shoved the door open and slammed it shut behind me. Without stopping to read my mom’s note on our kitchen table, I rushed up the stairs to my room and fell down on my bed, shoving books and papers off my pillow. And I cried until I fell into the ocean of sleep.