Chapter 1
A small radio alarm clock blared pop music early in the morning. The loudness of its volume from such a tiny device was astounding. Or at least it would have been in any other situation. Hugging her pillow over her ears as tightly as she could, Evangeline Guile, or Eva for short, refused to give in to the alarm’s wake up call. But the tiny radio was blaring way too loud, and she didn’t want to annoy the neighbors in the apartment next door, so she reluctantly got up and turned it off.
It was a hot Monday morning in the beginning of September. Eva had started middle school a week ago, which she wasn’t too pleased with. But just as her dad had to go to work, she had to go to school.
“It wouldn’t be fair otherwise,” she reasoned years ago.
She swapped out her pajamas for a red shirt and blue jeans. In the bathroom she’d wash her face, brush her teeth, and comb her long brown hair and style it into a pony tail. After tying her favorite bow, she looked in the mirror to make sure she was presentable.
“Perfect!” she cheered.
She walked into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast for her and her dad, who hadn’t come home from work yet. Bacon and eggs with a slice of butter toast. Her specialty.
“Gotta start off the week right,” she thought.
She whipped up breakfast like a professional chef. Cooking came second nature to her as she’s been doing it almost as far back as she could remember. It started out as a necessity because her dad worked all night long and slept during the day, so he didn’t have time to prepare anything outside of microwaveable meals. Not that he could cook in the first place, either. You could ask him to make a bowl of cereal and he would somehow burn it.
“There,” she said after placing the food on the plates in the shape of a smiley face, with bacon for eyes and scrambled eggs in a squiggly mouth.
She poured two glasses of orange juice and brought them to the table along with a bottle of ketchup for her. Just then, the front door creaked open.
“Something smells good,” her dad said as he placed his keys on a hook next to the entryway.
“Morning, dad,” Eva called out from the kitchen.
He walked into the kitchen and placed his lunch bag on the counter. “You spoil me with your cooking.”
“Are you assuming that that’s for you?” she said, pointing at the plate across the table.
“Is it not?”
“I planned on eating both, but I’ll be nice and give you the second plate.”
“Thank you for your generosity.”
The two laughed as they sat down together and started to eat.
“Ready for a new week of school?”
“As ready as I can be.”
“Have you made any new friends yet?”
Eva hesitated to answer, glancing away from her dad’s gaze as she tried to think up a lie as not to worry him. However, she wasn’t great at hiding her thoughts, and her dad was quick to catch on.
“I’m sorry that we moved to a new city just before entering middle school. I can only imagine how tough it is not knowing anyone there.”
“It’s fine!” she assured him. “I mean, you had to for work! We’ve both had to make sacrifices, so don’t worry about it.”
He smiled. “Well, I’m glad you understand that. However, do you have to act so mature already? It’s scaring me.”
“I’m in middle school now, so I have to,” she replied as she finished eating.
Eva grabbed her dishes and placed them in the sink for her dad to clean. She gave him a hug and picked up her backpack.
“See ya, dad,” she said as she headed out the door.
“Have a good day,” he replied.
Chapter 2
At the bike rack outside her apartment, Eva unlocked her bike chain and wrapped it around the bottom of the seat. She hopped on and started biking to school.
Morning rays of sunshine pierced through the leaves of tall oak trees as she rode through the winding neighborhood. No two houses looked the same, each with their own personality. Some were two stories, some only one. There were houses made of brick while others wood. One house had a family of lawn gnomes standing around the mailbox at the edge of the driveway.
One particular house she liked to pass by had a large flowerbed in the front yard filled with hydrangea. “If I ever live in a house, I want a garden just like that,” she thought to herself whenever she passed it.
There was a large hill that she had to climb every morning on her route. Last week she walked the bike up, but that morning she decided to try and pedal her way to the top. She pedaled as fast as she could, causing her backpack to bump up and down as her heart raced. The wind blew her pony tail back as she went up the steep incline. Despite her best efforts, her speed quickly vanished as she made her way up. The bike’s pedals became harder and harder to push until she was forced to hop off. Catching her breath, she walked her bike the rest of the way.
Once at the top, she fanned herself with her hand in an effort to cool down. Even though it was early in the morning, it was still incredibly hot, and her failed attempt at riding up the hill took a lot out of her.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said between breaths.
As she took a few moments to rest before continuing to school, she heard the cry of a kitten mixed with a ferocious bark. A small brown kitten with a bell around its neck ran for its life as a large pit bull chased after it. It didn’t take a scientist to figure out the dog was not going to play nicely, protruding its sharp fangs.
Eva knew that if she didn’t stop the dog, no one would. Right as the kitten ran past her, she dropped her bike and jumped in front of the large pit bull.
“Rraaaahhh!” she yelled, recalling something she learned from a camping trip about how one was suppose to make as much noise as possible to scare a bear if one happened to approach you. A dog wasn’t a bear, of course, but Eva didn’t really have time to think of a better plan.
The pit bull stopped and started barking at her.
“Rraaaaaaah!” she yelled again, holding her arms up in the air to try and seem taller.
After a few more barks, the pit bull turned around and scampered off.
With a sigh of relief, she turned around to see if the kitten was okay, but it had already ran off.
“It must have gotten away,” she thought. “That’s good.”
Picking up her bike, Eva went on her way to school.
Chapter 3
At lunch time, Eva sat by herself eating the school cafeteria food. Her school provided lunch consisted of a square pepperoni pizza with a side of green beans she swore were dug out of a dumpster, because they smelled something awful. Once she was finished eating, she pulled out her math homework and started working. It was her weakest subject and she needed all the extra time to work on it. Try as she might, she didn’t understand how to solve the simplest fraction problem, even after her teacher demonstrated several times.
“Why does math have to be so hard,” she thought, dropping her head onto the table in defeat.
The cafeteria was full of lively students chatting amongst themselves. There was a sense of energy amongst everyone. Eva looked around, silently wishing she had someone to talk to, but because she wasn’t from the area and didn’t know anyone, she had a hard time starting up a conversation.
“This sucks,” she cursed to herself.
While looking at her homework again, she overheard a conversation from the table next to hers.
“Did you hear about the monster?” someone gasped.
“What monster?” asked another.
“The one that shows up at school every night. I heard it wanders around the halls and destroys things, like that busted water fountain outside the gym! Not only that, but apparently an eighth grader ran into it after school the other day and was attacked! That’s why they started forcing everyone out of the building immediately after the bell rings.”
Eva rolled her eyes at the ridiculous story. She recalled the urban legends at her old elementary school, such as the ghost that haunted the kindergarten bathrooms, the zombies that lived under the gymnasium, and so on. She guessed that despite being in middle school, people still loved a good urban legend.
Chapter 4
Once school let out, Eva tried to go to library to check out a mystery novel, but a security guard caught her before she could go in.
“Students have to leave the premise after the final bell.”
“What?” Eva questioned. “But when do we get to use the library?”
“There’s been several incidents around the school after hours since the start of the new year, so for the time being, everyone has to leave once school lets out.”
“Incidents?” she wondered to herself as she walked to the bike rack.
She hopped onto her bike and thought back to her classmates talking about a monster roaming around the school and causing damage to the property and students.
“Nah,” she said to herself, pedaling her way home.
As she rode along the street, it felt like someone was watching her. Whenever she looked around to see if anyone was there, she was met with nothing. Not a soul was around.
“Weird,” she thought wearily as she started pedaling faster.
Once home, she tip-toed to her bedroom as not to disturb her dad, who was still sleeping before getting ready for work, and softly closed the door behind her.
“Howdy!”
“Aahh!” she cried. Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest in shock.
She looked over at her bed to find the small brown kitten that she had rescued from the ferocious dog in the morning.
“How did you get… Did you just speak?”
Confused, she began to scan the room for a camera. “This must be a prank,” she said under her breathe.
“My name is Brownie! How are you?”
“Aaaaahh!” Eva screamed in horror as she fell back against the door, shocked by the kitten named Brownie’s ability to speak.
“H-h-how can-”
Before she could finish, the door to her bedroom was kicked opened by her dad, wielding a metal baseball bat. Eva was flung onto her bed toward Brownie, who quickly fled in fear and hid underneath a pillow.
“WHAT IS IT!? WHAT’S WRONG!?” he yelled with a fire burning in his eyes.
Eva’s dad danced around the room, looking for signs of trouble. When he didn’t see anything wrong, he lowered the baseball bat.
“Did something happen?” he asked in confusion after settling down.
Eva looked over at Brownie hiding underneath her pillow, trembling in fright from her dad bursting into the room like a crazy lunatic. She took pity on him. He had already suffered that morning when he was almost killed by that dog, and he didn’t seem to have ill intentions for being in her room. Because of how vulnerable Brownie looked (or because she had no way of explaining that a talking kitten had appeared in her room), Eva shook her head.
“I-i-it was just a roach! It scared me, is all. Sorry, Dad. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
Eva’s dad let out a sigh of relief, gripping his heart. “Don’t do that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
He looked at the clock hanging in Eva’s room, which said 4:00 p.m. “Few more hours before my alarm goes off. I’m gonna head back to bed and try to get some sleep. Try to keep quiet, please.”
Eva nodded her head as her dad left the room, closing the door behind him. After a minute of silence, Eva looked over at the pillow Brownie was cowering under and lifted it up.
“I-is he g-g-gone?” Brownie asked.
“Yeah, he’s gone.”
Brownie sat up and then bowed to Eva. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause a disturbance.”
“No, no. It’s fine,” Eva replied. “It’s just that you don’t normally see a talking animal every day.”
“I understand. Also, thank you for saving me from that rabid dog this morning.”
“Oh! You don’t need to thank me for that!”
“You were the first person in a week to help me,” he said with a sniffle as tears built up in his eyes.
“Really?” Eva asked.
“I’ve been attacked by dogs, birds, people, other cats, and even insects. I’ve gotten stuck in trees, caught in bushes, and became so unbelievably lost over and over again.”
“That sounds terrible! I’m sorry to hear that,” Eva replied sympathetically. “But if you don’t mind me asking, how is it that you can talk?”
“Oh!” Brownie exclaimed, wiping the tears from his eyes and regaining his composure. “Let me reintroduce myself. I’m Brownie, and I’ve come in search of a new magical girl!”
“A what?” she asked curiously
“A magical girl!” Brownie repeated himself as the tiny bell around his neck transformed into a large tome. He opened the front cover with his paws and flipped through pages until coming to a stop. “A magical girl is a girl granted the gift of magic to fight evil forces that bring harm to humanity, and save the world from destruction.”
“What’s that book?” Eva asked.
“It’s a manual for partners of magical girls. This is actually the first time I’ve done this, so I still don’t have everything memorized.”
“I see,” Eva said. “But I’m confused. What does all that have to do with me?”
“There’s been recent activity that has made it necessary for a magical girl to take action and stop them. However, there are currently no magical girls in this area, as it’s been a long time since one was needed around here.”
“Okay. But what does that have to do with me?” she repeated.
“For the past week, I’ve been searching high and low for someone to take the pledge and become a magical girl and save the city. Despite my efforts, I haven’t been able to find anyone that fits all the magical girl qualifications. They need to have a strong sense of justice, be courageous, and preferably have strong magical potency.”
“I get ya,” Eva said, now slightly frustrated. “But again, what does that have to do with me?”
“After what you did for me this morning, I feel that my search is finally over.”
“You don’t mean…”
“You’re the next magical girl!” Brownie jumped and cheered. “Congratulations!”
Though Brownie was ecstatic over the announcement, Eva wasn’t quite on board. She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed the back of her neck as she glanced away from Brownie.
“What’s the matter?” Brownie asked, noticing Eva’s lack of excitement.
“Do I have to be one?” she asked.
“Huh?” Brownie was caught off guard. He was expecting Eva to be more into the idea. “You mean, you don’t want to be?”
“Not really. That sounds like a lot of pressure I don’t want to deal with.”
“But you have too!” Brownie cried, gripping Eva’s leg. “I’ve been looking for days for a new magical girl! There hasn’t been a single person until you that had the qualifications! You just have to become one!”
“Shh! Be quiet! My dad’s sleeping!” Eva whispered.
“I’m sorry,” Brownie said, tearing up. “But I’m really desperate right now. I’ve already sensed an evil aura coming from inside your school.”
“My school?” Eva said, recalling what her classmates and the security guard said earlier. “Do you know what it is?”
Brownie shook his head. “I’m not sure, but the situation is bad enough that a magical girl is needed to get rid of it. And you’re the only one who can do it.”
He sat in silence as Eva started pacing around her room.
“There’s no way!” she thought. “I’m only 12! Why can’t a grown up do it!?”
Couldn’t she call the police and report it? No, that wouldn’t work. She doubted the police would take a tip with the source being a talking kitten. She’d be laughed at and told to stop watching too many cartoons or something.
And it’s taken this long for Brownie to find someone suited to become a magical girl. If she refused, then he’ll have to keep searching, and who knows what will happen by then. Maybe whatever it is that invaded the school will branch out and invade other places. Maybe attack even more people.
Or worse, someone could get killed.
Eva swallowed the lump in her throat. Deep down she knew what she had to do.
“I’ll do it.”
“Really?” Brownie asked with a giant smile beaming from his face.
“I’ll become a magical girl if it means preventing any more people from getting hurt.”
“Fantastic!” Brownie cheered, grabbing Eva’s hand with his paws. “You don’t know how happy this makes me. Everything’s gonna be okay now!”
Chapter 5
Brownie flipped through the pages of his manual as he read up on how to turn Eva into a magical girl. Since this was his first time, he was being careful as not to mess up.
“First, you need to stand there,” he said, pointing to the center of the room.
“Okay,” Eva said, stepping to where Brownie had pointed.
“Next, make a, oh, this part is for me. Hold on.”
Brownie moved the manual to the edge of the bed facing Eva and stood up on his hind legs. He held out his front paws and sang a chant that consisted of only meows. A circle of pink light appeared around Eva as she felt the air in her room begin to circulate. Her clothes and long hair rustled in the wind as the lights flickered on and off like a strobe light.
“I hope nothing breaks,” Eva thought, staring at her light bulb.
Once Brownie finished the chant, he went back to looking at the manual as the light continued flickering.
“Next… Place your right hand to your chest and say ‘I, your name. I mean, you say your name there. Oh! I just realized I haven’t gotten yours yet.”
“Eva Guile.”
“Eva! That’s a cute name!”
There was silence between the two of them.
“…What’s next?” Eva asked, realizing they were going nowhere.
“Oh! Yes. Say ‘I, Eva Guile, hereby offer my services to protect the san- sank- sanctity of justice, love, and all that is good in the world.”
“I, Eva Guile, hereby offer my services to protect the sanctity of justice, love, and all that is good in the world.”
The circle of light expanded, creating a large insignia on the floor that had a elegant rose surrounded by thorns. It looked as if someone drew on the floor with a broken pink glow stick. Eva’s light bulb finally burned out from the flickering, but the glow from the insignia filled the room.
“That’s so cool!” Brownie said, looking down at the insignia. “Okay, next, push your hand into your chest and pull out your new magic wand.”
“Wait, push my hand into my chest? Like, into into?”
Brownie reread the instructions. “That’s what it says.”
“Won’t that hurt?”
After rereading the instructions again, Brownie shrugged.
Eva took a deep breathe and prepared for whatever was about to happen. She thought it would take some pressure to push her hand through, but surprisingly it was more like sticking her hand into an empty box. Her chest began to glow as her entire hand was engulfed.
“This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever witnessed,” Eva commented.
“You’re telling me,” Brownie said, slightly uneasy by it. “Now, you should be able to grip a wand and pull it out.”
Doing as instructed, Eva gripped her hand. She felt it grab hold of a cold metal rod.
“I think I got something,” she said.
She pulled out her hand, gripping a small bright pink wand no larger than her hand. On the end was a small golden disk with the same insignia as the light emblazoned on it.
Once the wand was pulled out, the insignia of light on the floor vanished. The light bulb turned back on.
“You did it!” Brownie cheered. “As of this moment, you are now a magical girl!”
“Huh,” Eva exclaimed. “That’s it? I don’t feel any different.”
“That’s because you haven’t transformed into your magical girl persona yet. You’re currently in your human form.”
“Okay. How do I transform, then?”
Once again, Brownie flipped through the manual until he found the page he needed.
“Hold your wand above your head and say “I call upon thee, Magical Girl YOUR NAME.”
“Does it have to be first and last?”
“It doesn’t say anything specifically,” Brownie said. “I guess just your first name is fine.”
Eva nodded and lifted her wand above her head. “I call upon thee, Magical Girl Eva!”
Just then, the wand’s handle shot out, expanding into a large staff.”
“Whoa!” Eva and Brownie gasped in unison.
Eva’s body began to glow with a pink hue, lifting her up in the air.
“W-what?” Eva wondered aloud.
A ribbon made of pink light wrapped itself around Eva, creating a large cocoon. After a few moments, the cocoon burst into millions of twinkling lights, revealing Eva’s magical girl form.
She was now wearing a long rouge pink dress that stretched down to her knees, flowing around her amidst the circulating air. Her shoulders were bare, but two white sleeves covered the top of her arm and flowed down to her hands. White stockings went up her legs while a pair of brown leather boots covered her feet. Her long brown hair had changed colors. It started out as white on the top of her head, but slowly became pink the further down it went in a gradient. Her hair was styled up in a braid with a large pink bow adorning the bottom.
Her transformation complete, Eva dropped back down to the floor, holding her staff with both hands, dazed by what had just occurred. She looked down at her new outfit, lifting the hem of the skirt and dropping it. Grabbing her now braided hair, she looked at it in awe from the color change.
She turned around and looked at her full body mirror, staring in disbelief at her new magical girl form.
“This is…” she said, placing a hand on the mirror.
“Yep!” Brownie cheered. “That is-”
“…Rather impractical,” Eva complained.
“Huh?” Brownie questioned.
“It’s cute. Don’t get me wrong, but fighting in a dress? What if it gets caught or something? Wouldn’t it be easier in pants?”
“It’s your magical girl uniform. It gives you an extra defense against evil magic and brutal physical attacks that would otherwise really hurt without it.”
“I hear you, but I still feel like it would be better if it wasn’t like a halloween costume. Who designed it?”
Brownie looked into the manual to find an answer, but there wasn’t one to be had inside its pages.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know,” Brownie said.
Eva let out a sigh. “Oh well. Maybe it won’t be that bad. So, how do I change back?”
“You change back after you defeat the current threat.”
Eva stood in silence for a minute, soaking Brownie’s answer in with a look of frustration. “You mean to tell me that I’m stuck like this until after I defeat whatever it is that attacked that person at school?”
“That sounds about right, yeah,” Brownie answered.
“With the threat being at school, then that means I have to go outside dressed like this?”
“How else would you get there?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before I transformed!?” Eva yelled.
“I-I’m sorry!” Brownie apologized. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
“Of course it’s a big deal! I have to go outside looking like I’m trick-or-treating two months early!”
Eva could hear her dad’s footsteps approaching her bedroom. In a panic, she grabbed Brownie and his manual and jumped out the window.
“Eva, could you please-” Eva’s dad said as he entered the room.
But the room was empty.
“Huh?” He said, scratching his head. “Was I dreaming?”
Eva peeked through the window and watched her dad leave.
“That was close,” Eva sighed in relief. “Not sure how I would be able to explain this.”
Eva stood up and stretched her arms out while leaning back against the wall.
“Let’s wait a minute before going back in for my helmet and keys, otherwise my dad might hear us. Then we can ride my bike to school.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Brownie said, looking at the manual. “You can leap there!”
“Leap?”
“Yeah! It’s one of your skills when you became a magical girl. Check it out!”
Brownie showed Eva the page containing a list of abilities that a magical girl could possess with spaces for checkmarks to show which ones she had. The only checkmarks were next to the ability to leap long distances and an offensive magic power.
“Since you just became a magical girl, you can only use a few powers. However, as you fight, you’ll be awarded with magical girl coins that you can use to upgrade or learn new skills.
Eva looked over the list, intrigued by some of the things she could potentially be able to do. One skill, however, stood out to her.
“Flying!?” she yelled.
“Yeah. It requires you to master the leaping skill first, but you could eventually learn how to fly.”
Eva imagined herself flying around on her staff like a witch’s broomstick above the city. She had always wanted to be able to fly with the birds and dance in the clouds like in a fantasy novel. Now having become a magical girl, it was no longer just a dream, but a potential future!
“This might make it all worthwhile,” she mumbled.
“Huh?” Brownie asked, not able to hear her clearly.
“Never mind!” Eva said, closing the book and handing it back to Brownie.
With a new surge of interest in being a magical girl, Eva was pumped to save the day.
“Let’s hurry and get to school and defeat that monster!” she cheered.
“Okay!”
Eva jumped, leaping high into the air. She went over the two story apartment building, barely touching the roof.
“Wow!” she gasped, amazed by how high she was.
However, as she came down, she didn’t know how to land. She wound up crashing onto her butt as her staff pierced the ground. Thankfully, being a magical girl made it so she barely felt any pain.
Brownie dashed around the corner of the building and ran up to Eva as she pulled her staff out of the ground.
“Why did you leave without me?” he cried.
“I’m sorry. I guess I got a little bit excited about using my power. I messed up the landing, though.”
“It’s because you just received your powers. With a bit of practice I’m sure you’ll get better!”
“Yeah. But for now, let’s take my bike to school.”
Brownie nodded. “Okay.”
Eva climbed back into her room and grabed her helmet and keys. She quietly closed the window behind her and made her way to the bike rack. Once there, she put on her helmet and unlocked her bike.
Getting onto her bike was a bit of a challenge as her dress would catch on the seat. Not only that, but she was unsure as how to hold her staff while riding her bike at the same time.
“Hey Brownie. Is there a way to shrink my staff back into the wand so I can steer?”
“I think if you picture it changing back into a wand, it should.”
Taking Brownie’s suggestion, Eva imagined the staff shrinking down to the pocket size wand it was before. Like magic, or better yet, because of magic, the staff changed back into a wand. Now a much more manageable size, she slipped it into her dress’ front pocket.
“Ready to go, Brownie?”
“One sec,” he said. He jumped onto Eva’s dress and climbed into the the pocket that contained her wand. “Ready!” he replied, his head poking out.
Eva couldn’t help but smile from how cute Brownie looked, sitting in her pocket.
“Let’s go!”
Chapter 6
Eva rode her bike to school while carrying Brownie on her lap. She carefully pedaled as not to get the hem f her dress tangled on the chain. A couple people stared at her as she rode along, causing her to blush from embarrassment, but there was nothing she could do about her appearance.
Because of her newfound strength, she rode up the hill without becoming tired and out of breathe. It was almost as easy as riding her bike on a flat surface. She wished she could have this strength all the time to make her morning commute to school easier.
It wasn’t long until she made it to the school. Worried that she would be caught by the security guard, she locked her bike up to a fence belonging to the backyard of a house at the edge of the school grounds. She hoped the owner wouldn’t be too upset by it.
She walked across the faculty parking lot, which was almost completely empty of cars except for two.
“Might be easier to sneak into the school than I thought,” she said. “Doesn’t look like there’s that many people here right now.”
“Awesome!” Brownie cheered.
Eva approached a pair of glass doors at the back of the school. When she tried pulling it open, the door resisted.
“It’s locked,” Eva mumbled.
“Don’t worry. I can get it,” Brownie said.
“Really? How?” Eva wondered
Brownie jumped out of Eva’s pocket and pressed his face against the glass door, squishing it. He made a high pitch grunting noise as he continued pushing. After a few moments, he phased through the door, like a ghost walking through a wall.
“Wow,” Eva said. “Is that how you got into my room?”
Brownie smiled from the other side of the door, unable to hear Eva’s question. He looked up at the handle and noticed a small metal lock. With a great leap, he grabbed hold of the door handle and whacked the lock with his tiny paw repeatedly. Eventually it turned, unlocking the door.
“Success!” he cheered.
Eva opened the door and walked inside. “Way to go, Brownie!”
“Thanks!”
“Now the hard part. Finding the monster.”
“It’s definitely here,” Brownie said. “I can sense it in my whiskers.”
“Do you know where exactly?”
Brownie shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t.”
“Oh well,” Eva said, pulling her wand out of her pocket, which transformed back into a staff. “Let’s start looking.”
Eva turned the corner and-
“Hey!”
Standing before her was the security guard. Brownie stayed hidden around the corner.
“What do you think you’re doing sneaking onto campus?”
“I…” was all Eva managed to say.
The security guard grabbed Eva by her wrist and led her to the security office.
“Oh no!” Brownie cried as he watched the security guard take Eva away.
Eva sighed. “Well, that took all of two seconds before getting caught.”
Chapter 7
The security guard opened the door to his office and brought Eva inside. The office had wood panel walls, which contrasted with the white painted walls in the hallway. The scent of hand sanitizer hung in the air. There were a few chairs lined up across from the officer’s desk made of metal with puffy red cushions.
Sitting in one of the seats was a boy who looked the same age as Eva. He wore a black hoodie and a pair of red sky diving goggles on his forehead, crushing his short brown hair. He also had a pair of green cargo shorts covered in pockets. A few looked like they were added on, as the material appeared different than the rest of the shorts.
“I can’t imagine wearing a hoodie in this heat,” she thought.
“Hand over your pole,” the security guard said, pointing at Eva’s staff.
Not wanting to get in any more trouble, she gave it to the security officer, who struggled holding it due to its weight.
“What is this thing made out of?” he mumbled as he placed it against the side of his desk.
Sitting on top of the desk were a couple of plastic toy guns that shot foam darts, and a long piece of rope. Eva guessed that it belonged to the boy.
“Sit down,” the security guard instructed, pointing at the seat next to the boy.
Eva quietly took a seat, placing her hands on her knees as she looked down at the floor. The security guard sat down at his desk and pulled out a notepad. He then started to write in it.
“Psst.”
Eva looked at the boy, who was trying to get her attention.
“Trying to catch the monster?” he whispered.
Eva was caught by surprise. She thought she was the only one after it.
“Y-yeah,” she answered.
“Me too,” he said, pointing his thumb at himself.
“Quiet you two!” the security guard said without looking up from his notepad.
Eva and the boy shot up in their seats and became still. The room was silent as he continued to write for several minutes.
“Okay,” he finally said. “Now, can you explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to break into the school building after hours?”
Neither the boy nor Eva made a peep.
“Well?”
“It’s because…” Eva started to say, but trailed off, unable to find the words to explain the situation in a way that sounded believable.
“Because I’m hunting for the monster!” the boy answered proudly.
The security guard furrowed his brow. “The monster…”
“Yeah! There’s a monster roaming the building after school and I want to be the first one to catch it!”
The security officer tapped his desk a few times with his pencil then set it down. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that you broke into the school to catch a monster?”
“They say that a monster has been causing a bunch of damage to the school at-”
“The ‘monster’ is nothing but a rumor started by over-imaginative kids. It’s trouble makers like you who are sneaking into the school at night causing property damage!”
Eva and the boy shrunk in their seats. Despite Eva knowing that there really is a monster, she couldn’t argue against the security guard’s logic. In all honesty, if anyone had asked her that morning, she wouldn’t have believe there to be a monster either. But after everything that had happened, she was ready to believe in anything.
“I’m going to have to report you to the authorities.”
“What!?” Eva and the boy yelled.
“Breaking and entering is against the law. Maybe they’ll set you straight and you won’t ever think about doing something like this in the future.”
“But!” Eva tried to defend herself, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Names?” the security guard asked, picking up his pencil.
Neither Eva nor the boy said anything.
“Give me your names, otherwise you two will be in even more trouble.”
Eva took a deep breath and sighed. “Evangeline Guile.”
Right as the security guard was about to write Eva’s name down, a loud crash came from down the hall, along with the sound of a kitten crying out.
“Brownie!” Eva thought.
“You two stay here. I’ll be back,” the security guard said as he got up and left the room.
After five seconds, Eva quickly stood up and grabbed her staff, worried that something happened to Brownie just then.
“What are you doing?” the boy asked.
“My friend’s in trouble,” she said as she bolted out of the office.
“Wait up!” the boy yelled, grabbing his plastic guns and chasing Eva out of the office.
Chapter 8
Eva ran down the hall as the boy tried to catch up to her. They heard another loud crash echo in the hall.
“Hey wait!” the boy yelled at Eva as he caught up to her. “So, what’s with the outfit?”
“It’s…” she started, but stopped herself as she mentally debated whether to tell him or not. Considering he was after the monster as well, she figured it would be fine.
“I’m a magical girl. I’m here to find the monster and get rid of it.”
“A magical girl?” the boy asked. “What’s a magical girl?”
“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure myself.”
“Well, if you’re after the monster, then we have the same goal. How about we team up?”
Eva stopped and looked back at the boy. He extended his hand to her, waiting for a response. Since she was too worried about Brownie, she gave a quick handshake and went back to running down the hall.
“All right! I’m partners with a magical girl!” he cheered. “Whatever that is!”
When they turned the corner, Eva saw Brownie running towards her.
“Eva!” he cried, jumping into Eva’s arms.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up! Is that cat talking?” the boy asked, but was ignored.
“It’s the monster!” Brownie said as he pointed where he had ran from.
Sitting on the floor was the security guard. His legs trembled as his mouth hung open, unable to express his fear as he stared into one of the classrooms. After another loud crash, the security guard got up and ran.
“Run away!” he yelled, running past them.
“Adults,” the boy shrugged. “When things get real, they’re the first to run.”
A thud came from the room as a desk flew into the hallway, crashing into a water fountain. Water shot into the air, raining all over the floor.
Eva held her staff before her as the boy pulled out his plastic guns.
With a growl, a large furry arm stretched out from the classroom and into the hall. And then another. They were as thick as tree stumps.
“What on Earth?” Eva said.
“It’s the monster!” Brownie yelled.
The monster’s large head pushed through the doorframe and into the hallway. It struggled to get out of the classroom before it managed to tumble out and crashed into some lockers, denting them. It slowly stood up and looked down at Eva, Brownie, and the boy.
It was nothing like they expected. The monster, standing maybe ten feet tall, was as wide as it was tall. Its body was neon purple, covered in a soft fuzz. A pair of large, black, button eyes looked down at them as a smile made of red yarn trailed down from its pink nose.
“It’s a…” Eva said.
“A giant teddy bear?” the boy questioned, lowering his guns. “What the heck? The monster that was terrorizing the school was a giant teddy bear?”
“Is that all?” Eva sighed with relief.
The bear, still staring at the three, thrashed one of its stubby arms into the dented lockers, crushing them like a soda can.
“Run,” they all said in unison before fleeing in terror.
The bear let out a rumbling growl as it started to chase after them. Every step it took caused the ground to tremble from its might, along with a squeak like a chew toy. Fear gripped Eva as she had no idea what she was doing anymore.
“Eva! You have to stop it!” Brownie yelled.
“Sure. I’ll get right on that,” she yelled. “Once I figure out how!”
“Let me try something!” the boy yelled, looking behind them.
The bear ran on its two stumpy legs as its arms swayed back and forth. Wielding his two plastic guns, the boy turned mid stride and fired at the bear. Numerous foam darts shot through the air and hit the bear.
And did absolutely nothing.
“Whelp, I’m all out of ideas,” he said, focusing on running.
“Brownie! How do I fight it!?” Eva yelled.
“You should have a magic power that you can fire at it. Let me check the manual.”
Brownie transformed his bell into the manual, but because Eva was running, he couldn’t get a good grip and dropped it on the floor. Moments later the bear stepped on it, crushing it into the tile.
“Ack!” Brownie cried. “We’re doomed!”
“Why would you pull out a book while running!?” the boy asked.
“I’m sorry!” Brownie cried.
“Complaining isn’t gonna help any!” Eva yelled at the boy. “Okay, I’ve got an idea.”
Eva picked up Brownie and tossed him to the boy, who wound up dropping his guns to catch him.
“Why did you do that!?” the boy complained.
“I’m gonna lure the bear after me. You two take advantage of that time to grab the manual while I lead it away. Got it?”
The boy stared for a second, then smiled. “Right.”
“Jump into that open classroom up ahead while I lead it to the football field.”
“Got it!”
The bear continued its relentless charge after Eva and the boy with no signs of stopping. When they approached the open classroom, the boy jumped in, holding tightly onto Brownie. Moments later, the bear stampeded by, shaking the room.
“Good. It ignored them,” Eva thought, running toward the exit.
She quickly pushed the doors open and ran out of the building. Shortly after, the bear burst from the building, smashing the glass doors. The boy and brownie peeked out of the room and saw the coast was clear.
“Let’s get the manual!” Brownie said.
“Yeah,” the boy replied, placing his goggles over his eyes. “Let’s do this.”
The two left the room and ran back down the hall to get Brownie’s manual.
Chapter 9
Outside, Eva ran to the open football field as the bear came stumbling behind her. Bits of grass and dirt flew in the air behind the bear as it left large dips in the ground wherever it stepped. Now that they weren’t in an enclosed area, Eva was able to take advantage of her leaping capabilities she obtained earlier.
“Let’s see what I can do until the others show up.”
Staff in hand, she struck it into the ground, causing her to swing around and face the massive bear.
Running as fast as she could, Eva leapt up in the air. She stepped on the bear’s head and jumped off with such force it tumbled forward and crash into the ground.
“Not so tough now, are ya big guy?” she boasted with confidence.
The bear pushed itself back up and looked over at Eva, who was excitedly hopping on her feet while anticipating is next move. Agitated, the bear thrust itself towards Eva in an attempt to grab her. She leapt over the bear and spun in the air, landing her hand onto the bear’s head. She forced it down to the ground. Its head created a crater in the football field.
“This is more fun than I thought it’d be.”
Eva jumped high into the air, with the intent to slam her staff into the bear’s head. However, the bear turned around, swinging its massive arm into Eva. The force from the bear’s arm sent her flying into a storage shed at the edge of the field.
The bear got up and charged toward the shed and slammed into it. The shed exploded with a cluster of training equipment and debris, along with Eva. She rolled along the ground as debris fell on top of her.
Eva stood up amidst the pile of broken equipment and readied her staff. After getting beaten up like that, she realized that this wasn’t a good time to be overconfident.
The bear was about to charge again when a yell came from the school building.
“I got it!”
It was the boy, holding the book above his head with Brownie clinging to his shoulder. When the bear saw the boy, it turned around and started charging at him.
“Go take the book to Eva! I’ll distract it while you guys figure out how to destroy it!” he said to Brownie.
“Okay!”
Brownie shrunk the manual back down to a bell, which attached itself to his collar. He jumped down from the boy’s shoulder and started running as fast as he could to Eva. Noticing the bear looking at Brownie, the boy quickly pulled out his plastic guns and started firing at the bear, getting its attention.
“Come get some, ya dumb bear!” he yelled.
Being pelted with the foam darts angered the bear. It picked up its pace, whipping its stumpy arms around. The boy threw his plastic guns at the bear and started running as fast as he could. Though his life was in danger, he couldn’t help but smile from the excitement.
As the boy and the bear started running laps around the field, Brownie raced to Eva.
“Eva!” he cried, jumping into her arms. “I’m sorry for messing things up.”
“It’s okay,” she said, rubbing his head. “Now then, let’s figure out how to defeat that bear!”
Brownie jumped down to the ground and summoned the manual again. He quickly flipped through the pages, trying to find the information regarding Eva’s offensive magic. As he did, Eva watched the boy and the bear running.
“He’s quite energetic,” she thought.
Though energetic, all that running was starting to get to him. He was sweating enough to fill a milk jug. Continuing to wear his black hoodie in the heat wasn’t helping, either. Eva could tell that he wasn’t going to keep up for much longer.
“Hurry Brownie!”
Brownie flipped the pages as fast as he could, only to wind up going past the page he needed.
“Ack! Where is it!” he cried, flipping back.
Eva looked over at the boy, who fell onto the grass with the bear right behind him, appearing to have passed out. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw the bear stand above him, raising its boulderish paw in the air. If she were to keep waiting for Brownie to find what it is she needs to do, it will be too late.
Without hesitation she ran toward the boy and the bear.
“Wait!” Brownie called out to Eva, still flipping through the pages.
There wasn’t any time to rely on the manual. Eva ran as fast as she could across the field, with blades of grass ripping out from the ground with every step.
The bear’s paw started to fall. Giving everything she had, she jumped forward, aiming for the furry stump. She flew across the field and smacked into its paw with her whole body. It caused the bear to spin around and punch its own face. It fell backward onto the grass with a loud thud, leaving an imprint in the ground as Eva rolled onto the grass.
After she finished rolling, she pushed herself up with her staff and looked over at the bear. It stood up and stared her down with its black button eyes. Though its face was static, Eva could tell the bear wasn’t pleased with what she had done. Filled with anger, it charged at her.
Eva held out her staff in front of her and was compelled to spin it like a baton through her fingers. It wasn’t that she thought to do this. She just knew that this was what she needed to do to protect herself and stop the bear.
Her staff spun around her body with the grace of a professional, from one hand to the other, without skipping a beat.
“Rose… Piercing…” Eva said, the words having come out of her mouth without thinking them. She then tossed the staff into the air. It flew high into the sky with a trail of pink sparkling lights. Eva watched as it danced in the air, waiting for it to fall. She extended her hand upward, preparing to catch it. She became worried about missing it, as she had never done anything like this before.
“You’ll be fine,” she assured herself. “Believe in yourself.”
Without fumbling or stumbling, she gripped her staff as it landed on the palm of her hand. She quickly pointed the staff at the bear, and with a deep breath, she completed the chant.
“Strike!”
The insignia from when she became a magical girl appeared in front of her. Giant sharp crystals shot outward from the crest and toward the bear. Before it could react, the dozens of crystals pierced it, creating numerous holes in its body like Swiss cheese. The crystals lit up and exploded a few moments after hitting its target, leaving no trace the bear was ever there. The crest shattered into a cloud of sparkles and blew away with the evening wind.
Eva fell to her knees, gripping tightly to her staff. She stared in disbelief at what she had accomplished.
“You did it!” Brownie cheered, jumping onto Eva. “You defeated the monster!”
Eva couldn’t help but erupt into a joyous laughter. “I did it!” she cheered.
Chapter 10
The monster that had plagued the school the past week had been defeated. With its demise, the “incidents” as the security guard had worded, had come to an end, and the school returned to normal.
As Eva sat on the ground laughing with Brownie, a twinkle fell from the sky. Plopping in the grass before her were three golden coins with “MG” written on it in beautiful cursive handwriting.
“What’re these?” Eva asked.
“Those are the MG Coins I was talking about earlier. The more monsters you defeat, the more coins you’ll get, and the more abilities and attacks you’ll be able to unlock!”
Eva held the coins in the palm of her hand, staring intently.
“How close am I to being able to fly?”
Brownie opened to the front of the book, containing the list of Eva’s abilities and those she can unlock with the correct amount of coins.
“Oh! You can upgrade your leaping ability so you can leap faster!”
Eva drooped her shoulders. “But how many until I can learn to fly?”
Brownie’s cheerful face soured. He held up the book to Eva. She looked at it with disappointment. She opened her arms and fell backward onto the grass and sighed. “I’ve got a long way to go.”
After taking a deep breath, Eva smiled. Sure, being a magical girl wasn’t gonna be a cake walk. In fact, it was going to be hard work. This fight was nothing but the tip of the iceberg for what lies ahead. Regardless, Eva felt a sense of excitement she hadn’t felt in a very long time, and she was loving every moment of it.
The football field was torn apart by her fight with the bear, not to mention the hallway and the glass door.
“What are we gonna do about the damage?” Eva asked.
“Don’t worry about that!” Brownie cheered. “Once you transform back to your regular self, everything will go back to how it was!”
“That’s it? Okay. How do I do that?”
“Since the monster is gone, just shrink your staff back down to its wand form, raise it above you, and picture your usual self.”
Eva nodded and stood up. With her staff raised above her, it burst into a million tiny specks of light, revealing its wand form. She then thought about her usual self, the regular ol’ Eva Guile. There was a burst of light around Eva just like the wand. Her appearance returned to normal.
“That sure was… easy…”
The football field was still a wreck. When she looked over at the building, she saw glass litter the ground, surrounding a busted metal door frame.
“Everything’s still a mess!”
“Huh?” Brownie murmured. He quickly flipped through the manual. With a twitch, he slowly looked up at Eva with a horrifying look. “I misread it. All that did was modify people’s memories so they don’t remember what happened.”
“What!?” Eva yelled.
“This way, nobody knows that magic exists. It’d be really difficult if people found out monsters and magical girls were fighting around them. This way, their memories are modified so they think something else happened instead…”
“So then…”
Eva looked at the damage she and the bear had caused.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Eva ran to her bike and left as quickly as possible so nobody would associate her with the scene of the crime and think she was the cause of all the vandalism, completely forgetting the boy.
As she rode away, an ominous figure stood from the roof of the school, watching her. It was a tall woman wearing a lion tamer’s outfit with a whip wrapped around her hand. Her cat like ears twitched while her puffy tail swayed from side to side.
She cracked her whip and held it in front of her.
A terrible darkness spiraled up around her. Then, like smoke in the wind, the darkness blew away, with with woman having vanished in thin air.
Chapter 11
In the middle of the woods at the edge of the city was a large clearing. If one were to come across it, they wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary.
A darkness similar to that from the school spiraled up from the ground on the rim of the clearing. The lion tamer woman appeared as the darkness was swept away by the wind. She walked into the clearing and snapped her black glove covered hands.
A large gash of light exploded into existence in the sky above the center of the clearing. A loud rumble of thunder shook the earth, causing a panic among the animals nearby. Large gusts of wind burst from the blinding light, carrying a large red and white striped fabric that fell to the ground, crushing anything it landed on.
Once settled, the cloth began to inflate. Underneath, metal beams stretched and pulled the cloth until it resembled a large circular tent the size of football field. Streams of colored triangular flags shot outward like bullets, attaching to the trees nearby. A rainbow of illuminated orbs of light floated up from the ground and hovered above the area. Two flaps at the front of the tent rolled up, revealing an entrance.
The woman briskly walked into the large tent. Tall sets of wooden bleachers circled around a large red mat with a raised circular blue stage in the center. Printed onto the stage was a large white star. Numerous spotlights lit the stage.
Standing in the center of the stage was a larger than life man whose height would fit among professional basketball players. His muscular arms had long since burst the sleeves of his red coat. He wore no shirt underneath his coat, perhaps due to his muscle mass. A black top hat rested upon his bald head. Above his lips was a curled mustache that had been profusely waxed as it glistened under the spotlights.
“I’ve come with a report, Ringmaster,” the woman spoke up. “It seems that we’ve run into a problem.”
“A problem, Shiris?” Ringmaster bellowed with a deep voice. A voice so deep it could rumble the structure around them.
“The bear that I had sent out to collect positive energy was destroyed by a young girl and boy,” Shirs answered.
There was a high pitched chuckle from behind Shiris. She glared in the voice’s direction.
“A young girl and boy? You’re to say that one of your ferocious beasts were destroyed by mere children? What a comedy!”
The person speaking was a lanky man who resembled a skeleton with how thin he was. He wore a black and white checkered pattern tuxedo and top hat. A white cape with a black underside hung from his shoulders. Gripped in his hand was a long black staff with a white tip. Covering his face was a featureless blank mask.
“Silence, Penteller,” Ringmaster barked.
Penteller bowed and muted himself.
“The boy does not pose much of a threat, I don’t think,” Shiris continued. “However, I fear that the girl will continue to pose a problem. She possesses a magic that was able to defeat my bear with a single attack.”
“Magic, you say?” Penteller spoke up. “Sounds right up my alley. Considering my expertise, maybe I should step in to vanquish this minor annoyance?”
“This setback was a result of my lack of preparedness. Please allow me to make amends for my mistake.”
Ringmaster was silent for a moment. He then turned his back to Shiris and folded his arms.
“You may do as you wish, Shiris. However, remember that we must have that positive energy at all costs.”
Shiris bowed. “Thank you, Ringmaster.”
Darkness spiraled around Shiris and she vanished. Penteller did the same as Ringmaster stood silently on the stage.
Outside, the streams of flags detached themselves from the trees and shot back into the tent. The tent then collapsed in on itself, becoming a sheet of cloth again. A tornado from the hole of light in the sky sucked up the tent. As quickly the tornado formed, it vanished. All that was left was the crushed grass and twigs of where the tent had stood.
Chapter 12
It wasn’t until they returned to Eva’s room when Brownie had a chance to look through his manual to find the page that talked about Eva’s attack powers. To Eva’s amusement, all the manual said was “the magical girl must find their unique strength within themselves.”
In other words, “figure it out yourself.”
Eva chuckled aloud when she heard it.
Chapter 13
The next morning, Eva rode her bike to school like any other school day. However, she went out of her way and rode past the football field to see if the field was miraculously fixed. “Maybe it just needed some time before going back to how they were,” she reasoned.
Except they weren’t.
The field was still torn up. The shed and everything inside was still destroyed, but no longer scattered around. The debris had been picked up and stacked onto a pile by a dumpster. The glass door that the bear had busted was taped off, preventing students from going near.
Inside the school, all of the students were talking about what had happened.
“I heard kids from a rival school showed up yesterday and did all this!”
“It was a motorcycle gang! They drove their bikes into the school and shredded the football field!”
“Someone in my math class said it was high schoolers looking for us middle schoolers to beat up!”
The stories were as outlandish as before, except for one thing: Nobody mentioned anything about a monster. Eva wondered if her erasing the existence of the bear from people’s memories also erased the old rumor. Regardless, there was nothing for people to fear anymore.
Later during lunch, Eva sat alone like usual, eating the school cafeteria turkey and mashed potatoes, which she swore was really old rubber and gunk the lunch ladies found stuck on the ceiling of the freezers.
As she ate, someone sat down across from her. Not that she mind anyone sitting across from her, as it wasn’t like they belonged to her or anything. What caught her off guard was that the person who sat down was the boy from the day before. The one she had completely forgotten about and left behind at the field.
Eva quickly looked down, trying to ignore him. She took another bite of her old rubber and chewed it slowly.
“What am I doing? He doesn’t remember anything,” she thought. “Not only that, he only saw my magical girl form. Not the usual me. It’s fine. Just act normal.”
She was about to scoop more freezer gunk onto her fork when the boy tapped the table.
“You know, that was rather rude of you to ditch me back there.”
Eva choked.
“But I forgive you. Yesterday was the most exciting day of my life! I mean, who can say that they fought a giant teddy bear!? Nobody, that’s who! And that attack you did at the end? With the exploding crystals? That was awesome! I’ve never seen anything like it! Well, in cartoons and movies, but not in real life!”
Eva coughed uncontrollably from choking. The boy handed her his chocolate milk cartoon, which she chugged without leaving a drop.
“You remember all that!?”
“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I!?”
Eva sunk in her seat. “But, I mean. Your memory… Weren’t you passed out?”
“Sure, I collapsed on the ground exhausted, by it wasn’t like I was unconscious or anything. I saw everything!”
In utter shock, Eva dropped her head onto the table.
“By the way,” the boy continued, “I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves yet. I’m Kevin Hayes.”
Eva was about to introduce herself, but Kevin cut in before she could talk.
“And you’re Eva Guile. I heard you say it to the security guard. I asked around to find you, since you look completely different as a magical girl.”
After that, Kevin dug out his lunch from a paper bag and started to eat.
“Nobody was talking about the monster anymore, so I thought their memories were altered,” Eva thought. “Were their memories not altered after all, or was it just Kevin?”
“You know, you should come up with a name for when you’re a magical girl. All super heroes have secret identities, so you should too.
Eva watched as he took a huge bite from his sandwich, then smiled.