Pink Gold - Ch.52 - Learn By Doing (Patreon)

"So what do you think?" I asked my girlfriend. "The physics building is less than fifteen-hundred meters from here, according to my phone. You can actually see it from the window. Do you think that's close enough that you could sense any dark magic over there?"

Ellie stared out the window and sighed, "What I think is, these rings really should have come with instructions or something."

"I still don't know what my staff's sensing range is," she added as she moved away from the window then slumped down next to Harper on the sofa. "All I can do is try it Blake, and see what happens. If I find something then we'll know. If not, then either there's no dark magic out there or maybe there is but it's too far to detect."

I nodded, "I get it Ellie. And I hear you about the whole 'no instructions' thing. I'm sure you and Harper both remember me complaining about that back in June."

Our boyfriend smiled, "We remember."

It was mid-afternoon, and after spending half the day driving around Saskatoon we'd finally checked into our hotel room. It was a good sized suite up on the seventh floor, and it seemed like a nice place. Plus it had a great view of the river, the park where we first arrived, and the university.

There was a small living-room area by the window, with the sofa and some comfy chairs facing a big screen TV on the opposite wall. Next to that was a little counter with a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffee machine, along with a table and some chairs.

The other half of the room held two big comfy beds, and there was another large TV across from them. That was on the wall above a long wide dresser, with a desk at one end. And finally there was a closet, the door out into the hall, and the door to our fancy spacious bathroom.

"Hey Fiona, what about you? I don't suppose your ring came with a users guide or something?" Harper asked as he looked over towards one of the beds, where the tall redhead was going through her backpack.

The Welsh woman chuckled, "None of the rings came with instructions. That's not to say I didn't get any guidance though? My ma gave me some tips when she passed the ring on to me. She didn't tell me everything though, she wanted me to figure some stuff out for myself."

"Anahera Ivy and Valerie all got some tips and pointers too as far as I know," she added. "You three are more like my ma and the other originals, in that respect? Getting your rings without the benefit of a mentor or someone to teach you all the ins and outs."

That made me frown as I finally moved away from the window to join Ellie and Harper on the sofa.

"I can't even imagine what it must have been like for them," I commented. "Like they found their rings then ended up travelling out into the middle of the pacific? Infiltrating a nuclear testing site, to fight alien monsters? And doing all that in the fifties?! It was hard enough for us just travelling up north, and that was with modern planes and phones and maps and stuff."

My girlfriend looked thoughtful too, but it turned out there was something entirely different on her mind. She asked Fiona, "Are you saying your mother was the original Violet? No offence but wouldn't that mean she's in her seventies now? At least? I kind of assumed there was another generation in between you and the original."

"Ah," Fiona grimaced as she came to join us in the 'living-room' area. She sat down in the chair to our right then explained, "You three are new so you won't know this yet, and you're already young so it might be a long time before you notice it yourselves? But the more you use your rings, the more time you spend in your magical forms, the more it'll mess with your age. It's basically in the name, right? We're magical girls, not magical women. Or magical ladies, or magical grans."

My friends and I exchanged a worried look, then Harper asked "Mess with our age, how exactly?"

The redhead elaborated, "My ma was in her thirties when she got her ring. That was back in fifty-two, but by the time the rift was sealed in fifty-eight ma didn't look a day over twenty. And she stayed that young for decades. She didn't start aging normally again until she finally took the ring off, back in the early nineties."

"If you saw my ma nowadays you'd think she looked good for a woman in her fifties," Fiona added with a grin, "But she was actually born in nineteen-twenty."

Ellie asked nervously, "Wait does that mean the three of us are going to be stuck at eighteen forever?"

"And uh, can I ask how old you really are?" I added. "I assumed you were in your twenties, but..."

Fiona shrugged, "My thirty-third birthday was back in the spring. I've had my ring for a little under a decade now, but I haven't been using it anywhere near as much as my ma did back in the fifties. Up until two months ago I'd only been doing a few hours a week, for training. Ma said it was important, so I'd be ready incase the Outsiders ever came back."

My girlfriend sighed, "So you got the ring when you were in your twenties. You've used it a couple hours a week, and that was enough to basically stop you from aging. So if we do the same, we're going to be stuck looking like high-school seniors forever."

"We don't have to use our rings that much," Harper pointed out. "After we've dealt with the current crisis, I mean."

I looked at the Welsh biker girl and asked, "Is there anything else you can tell us about the rings? You said your mom told you a few things, but you figured a lot out on your own. And you just mentioned training, but how'd you learn how to train? If there's no instructions, how do you know where to even start?"

She stated simply, "You learn by doing. Like you figured out how to use your halberd, Harper learned how to heal, and Ellie figured out how to travel. Our rings work with us. It can feel like intuition, but the more you use it and work with it, the more you'll understand. And the easier it'll be."

My friends and I were quiet for the next few seconds as all that slowly sank in. Then I looked to Ellie and suggested, "Maybe you can scan the hotel for dark magic, before trying to scan the university? I don't know what room or floor she's supposed to be on, but this is the place my mom said Leslie was staying. If something happened to her, there might be a trace of that."

My girlfriend sighed, then nodded and slowly got to her feet. "May as well get it over with."

"Thanks Ellie," I said as she moved a few paces away.

She made sure she was nowhere near the window, not that there was any way for folks to see us up on the seventh floor. Then Ellie gave her ring a twist, before punching towards the ceiling. As usual her transformation was accompanied by a wave of shadows. A second dark surge washed over her as she summoned her staff. Then while the rest of us watched quietly, Onyx closed her eyes and slowly turned on the spot while she held her staff out before her.

After about ten seconds the black magical girl opened her eyes and shook her head, "I'm not sensing anything unusual in the hotel. Based on what I could feel Monday night with the Outsiders I'm sure I have enough range to cover the entire building, so I'm pretty sure there's none of that 'darkness' here."

"Well that's good to know," Harper commented.

I asked, "Do you feel up to trying to reach the university campus from here?"

Onyx grimaced, then nodded. "Sure, I'll give it a shot."

She moved to stand in front of the windows for that, then closed her eyes again as she raised her staff. She sort of angled it forward until the top end lightly bumped against the glass. After that she was almost motionless, as a look of concentration or focus settled on her face.

This time it took nearly half a minute before she was done. Her eyes opened as she lowered her staff and sighed, "There's some darkness out there."

"I can't tell for sure what building it's coming from," she added. "It was kind of weak, but that might be due to the distance? Definitely coming from somewhere in the direction of the university though."

Fiona smiled, "Good job Onyx. I'd suggest the next step would be to hop in the SUV and get you to do some scanning while were driving around the campus, but maybe we can find a bite to eat first? And I'm gonna need some more coffee. It's been a long day for me."

"Right," my girlfriend made a face. "Time zones again."

I grimaced, "Good point. It's almost dinner time for us, and probably around midnight for you Fiona?"

The redhead nodded, "Pretty much."

There was another wave of darkness as Ellie deactivated her ring. Then she asked, "So what do we all want to eat? There's a restaurant in the hotel, but I'm sure there's loads of other places around."

A half hour later the four of us were sharing a booth in a nearby steakhouse. Fiona had a cup of coffee in front of her while the rest of us all had glasses of soda, and there was a basket of bread rolls with fresh whipped butter on the table. We were ahead of the local dinner rush so the dining room wasn't busy yet, but we still kept our voices down as we discussed our next moves.

"After we've eaten do you feel up to doing some more of that magical scanning?" Fiona asked my girlfriend. "If you can do that while we're driving around the campus that might be enough for you to pin down where it's coming from."

Ellie nodded, "Yeah that's fine. How are we going to do that without attracting any extra attention though?"

Harper reminded her, "The SUV's windows are tinted, so if you're in the back seat you shouldn't be that noticeable. We just need to find somewhere hidden so you can use your ring first."

"Are we all going to change? Or just Ellie?" I asked quietly. "Actually are we planning on doing any fighting tonight? Like what do we do if we figure out exactly where the dark magic is coming from? Or if we find the person doing it?"

Fiona had a sip of her coffee then shook her head, "No fighting tonight, if we can help it. Unless we stumble on some actually using it, then we'll have to act immediately. Other than that, this is just recon today."

"We'll check out the uni campus, then if you don't mind Ellie I'd like us to head back out of town to the big estate properties so you can scan around there too," the redhead added. "We need to know if there's any current activity around Judith's home, or if it's just on campus."

She had another gulp of coffee then stated, "After that we'll head back to the hotel and get some rest. As for what we do with whatever we learn today, we'll make those plans in the morning. Alright?"

"Ok," Ellie agreed.

Harper nodded, and I agreed as well. Then the conversation paused there since the waiter arrived with our food. Ellie and I both ordered small fillets, while Harper got a t-bone and Fiona had a sirloin. And all four of us had fries on the side.

It was a nice meal, and none of us left the place hungry when we were done. We all pitched in to pay the bill, then our next challenge was finding somewhere Ellie could use her ring without being seen. That was a lot harder than I expected, and we actually ended up going back to the hotel and into the underground parking so she could shift hidden away in a corner between the SUV and a wall.

Then as Onyx got into the back seat of the SUV Fiona suggested, "Harper you should magic-up too. Get your sceptre out, then ride in the back with your girlfriend. Blake can sit up front with me."

"Why?" my boyfriend asked. "I can't sense dark magic. Or are you worried we might need my healing magic?"

The redhead shrugged, "I'm hoping we won't need any healing magic, but you're as new to this as Onyx. Like I said earlier, we learn by doing. While you're waiting for the opportunity to do more healing, maybe intuition will kick in and you'll figure something out."

Harper looked like he wasn't convinced, but he didn't argue. After using the ring Ruby slipped into the back seat next to Onyx, and the two of them tilted the back seats so they were sitting fairly low. That and the tinted glass meant it was unlikely for anyone to notice them, and their outfits were definitely hidden from view.

I got into the passenger seat next to Fiona, then we headed back out so Onyx could do her magical recon scan of the university campus.