Pink Gold - Ch.56 - Job Well Done (Patreon)

** content warning: violence, injury **

I was already moving again before the serpentine Outsider above me spat out two more globs of toxic goop. I dodged and weaved, but my ultimate goal was the same as before. I was charging at the giant monstrosity that was battling Violet and Azura.

Having to swerve back and forth meant I was even slower though, and I'd completely lost any element of surprise. So the thing was already prepared for me when I finally got close enough to strike. I swung my halberd at one of its heads, but it leaned back out of the way as it twisted and brought another of its torsos around to try and grab me with its claws.

I was forced to pull back, but at the same time Violet lunged forward and swung her axe. The two-headed blade flared with purple light as it sank deep into one of the monstrosity's shoulders. All three heads immediately let out an angry discordant roar. The one arm seemed to be disabled, but the thing still had five more. And worse, the injury didn't slow it down at all.

Just then the whole arena momentarily lit up with green light, and I knew Peri had started shooting. From the angle of the glow I knew she was aiming upwards, at that snake-like thing hanging from the ceiling. I wasn't sure if she'd actually hit it or not, but at least she was keeping it busy so the damned thing couldn't just sit there taking pot-shots at the rest of us.

That left me free to focus completely on the giant abomination in front of me, and I started coordinating my attacks with those of Violet and Azura. And with all three of us working together, we were able to counter the three-headed Outsider's moves. When it ducked or spun clear of one of our attacks the other two girls would press from opposite sides. Which meant at least one of us could usually land a blow each time we all struck at once.

My halberd gave me the best reach out of all three of us, although only about half my attacks actually hit the thing. Instead I was able to force it backwards and into range of Violet's axe or Azura's hammer. It was slow going and we had to keep on our toes because the abomination was not going down easy, but we definitely had the advantage by that point.

The fight went on for what felt like another couple minutes, and while most of my attention was on the giant Outsider I was aware of more green flashes from behind and above us as Peri continued shooting at the serpentine monster. And even more worrying, Onyx was still fighting the tentacle dog thing.

I desperately wanted to help my girlfriend, I was positive it would only take me a couple seconds to finish off the smaller Outsider. But every time I let my focus drift, the giant one seemed to gain an advantage. There were more than a couple close calls, when its fearsome claws got within a few centimetres of Azura or Violet or myself.

Then at long last we got the break we'd been waiting for. It was forced to twist back and to the side to avoid my halberd blade, and that left it wide open for Violet's double-headed axe. Her blade sank deep into its thigh, and at the same time Azura brought her hammer down and across. The blue sapphire head lit up as it connected with the Outsider's knee, and the twin hits were enough to cleanly remove the whole leg.

With an ear-splitting triple-screech it toppled over, and I immediately gave my halberd a spin then brought it straight down. My blade split one of the heads in half from its crown down to its shoulders, and a moment later Violet's axe separated the second head from its neck. Azura followed that up with her hammer, and the final head burst like an over-ripe melon.

At that point the giant monstrosity finally started to harden and crumble. The purple magical girl let out a loud weary sigh while the blue girl's shoulders slumped in exhaustion after the long fight. Meanwhile my attention jumped to the black magical girl, to see how she was doing. My muscles were tense and I raised my weapon as I prepared to jump in and help finish off the smaller Outsider, but it looked like my girlfriend had finally taken care of that herself.

"Why! Won't! You! Fucking! Die!" Onyx shouted as she held the outsider pinned to the floor with her staff. Each of her words was punctuated by a powerful kick, as she drove her right boot over and over into the crumbling remains. Bits were knocked off of the decaying corpse with every blow, and that seemed to finally convince her the fight was over.

My girlfriend gave it one last kick then she stumbled back a pace or two so she could lean against the wall. She shook her head sighed, "That was fucked. That whole thing was completely fucked."

"Is everyone ok? Anyone hurt?" Ruby asked as she hurried over to where the four of us were standing next to the two dead Outsiders.

The blue magical girl moved to join Onyx leaning against the wall. She sounded drained as she replied, "Yes, all of us have injuries."

I hadn't noticed in the dim lighting, but now that I was looking I could see Azura had some deep claw marks in her upper left arm. There was an oblong hole on the back of Violet's bustier, with a matching burn mark on the exposed skin beneath. And Onyx had a couple burn marks on her right shin and calf, from just below her knee to the top of her boot.

Ruby immediately got to work with her sceptre, lighting up the corner of the arena with the soft red light of her healing magic. While my boyfriend worked on Azura's arm I turned around to check on Peri and that snake-like Outsider.

Fortunately the green magical girl was already on her way to join the rest of us, and at first glance she looked ok. As for the serpentine monster, there were only a few coils of its segmented body still dangling from the metal roof supports. The rest of it had already crumbled and fallen to the floor below.

As she got nearer I realized our archer had burns on her left cheek and shoulder, plus she was missing some hair on that side of her head.

"I'll be ok," she stated before I could comment on her injuries. By that point she was standing next to me, and I could tell her wounds looked to be mostly healed already.

Peri confirmed that a moment later, "Ruby already took care of me."

"How are you doing? How's the hip?" the green magical girl added, while more red light glowed behind us.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Ruby had moved on from Azura and was now working on our girlfriend's leg. Then I looked down at my right side and winced, "Still aches a bit, but I think it'll be ok."

"Feels like we're all going to come out of this with some fresh scars though," I added with a sigh.

That made Peri grimace, and I suddenly felt bad for saying it. She had that injury on her cheek, and I hated to think of her having to deal with that once she was back in her normal form.

"Let's hope the damage fades quickly, between Ruby's magic and the healing boost we get when we deactivate our rings," the archer commented quietly.

I was about to agree, but Azura spoke up first. The blue magical girl sounded equal parts tired and stressed as she asked, "Onyx can you tell if we're done here? Are there any more Outsiders around?"

Ruby was working on Violet's back, so the black magical girl was free to move a few paces away and use her staff. Her eyes were half-closed as she slowly turned on the spot, then she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"No more Outsiders," Onyx replied. "I think it's over."

"There's still two more survivors hiding in the building," Ruby commented while she focused on the purple magical girl's injury. "We should let them know it's safe to come out."

Azura seemed to think it over for a few seconds before she agreed. Then as soon as my boyfriend was finished helping Violet the six of us got moving again. Luckily the last two survivors weren't hard to find, since we had Ruby guiding us straight to them.

The first one was a teenage girl hiding in the ladies bathroom. She was in a near panic even after we let her know it was safe to come out. And the second was an older guy who'd been hiding in a supply closet. Fortunately neither of them were injured. They were both extremely shaken though, in fact I had a feeling half the people we'd seen here were going to end up needing therapy. For now the best we could do was escort the last two survivors out of the building, then point them towards the church were we'd sent the first group.

As they hurried off we moved back into the lobby of the sports building. Then Azura asked, "Onyx can you check once more please, so we know for certain there's no more Outsiders in the area? And Ruby, one more look for additional survivors please."

The two newest magical girls did as asked, and both reported the area was clear.

"Thank goodness," the blue magical girl sighed. "Let's get out of here before any authorities show up."

"I'm surprised we haven't run into any cops yet already," Peri commented.

Violet shrugged, "I don't know the area that well, but I'm pretty sure we're a long way from any cities, or even large towns. So odds are the authorities are still on their way."

My girlfriend asked, "Azura, Peri, where am I taking you two? And Violet? Back to the hotel? Or would you rather just head home at this point?"

"Ah shit," the purple magical girl made a face. "We still have to deal with the situation at Judith's house, don't we?"

After a moment she suggested, "I think we should go back to the hotel. We should try and get a bit of rest after all this. And maybe a good long soak in a hot bath, to help loosen up a bit."

Azura took a deep breath then decided, "I would like to return to Lily's home in Wellington please. She'll need to know what happened here. She and Cel might want to discuss the situation."

That just left Peri. The green magical girl thought it over then asked my girlfriend, "If you don't mind I think I'd like to head home as well. Text me though, when you're ready to move on the Williams house. I'll help out when the time comes."

Onyx nodded, "Alright then. Gather round, let's get the hell out of here."

She dropped off the blue magical girl first, then from New Zealand we jumped to San Francisco for Peri. Finally the rest of us returned to our hotel suite in Saskatoon, and as soon as we were back I deactivated my ring and all but collapsed onto the big comfy sofa.

A moment later Harper slumped down next to me on the left, then Ellie dropped onto the cushions beside me on the right. And Fiona flopped face-first across her bed. After that it was at least five minutes before anybody moved, or even spoke.

"You know," the redhead mumbled from where she lay sprawled across her bed, "I'm pretty sure this hotel has a hot tub downstairs? It's probably not too busy at this time of day."

It took me a half minute to even remember what time of day it was here. When we were fighting in Ireland a few minutes earlier it was mid afternoon, and it was dark out in New Zealand. But it was probably only half past nine in the morning in Saskatoon.

"I didn't bring a bathing suit," Ellie responded quietly.

"Me neither," Harper added.

That made me frown, "I don't remember if I even own a swimsuit. If I do, I didn't bring it."

Fiona sighed, "Right. Same. I didn't think we'd be doing any swimming."

"Then who's up for a hot bath? Or a shower?" the Welsh woman added a few seconds later. "I don't mean together, just that it's an alternative to the hot tub."

We all agreed to let the redhead go first, although she didn't seem especially happy about that. Maybe because it meant she had to get up and start moving again. That took another minute or two, but eventually she dragged herself into the washroom, then spent a good half hour soaking in the tub.

After she was done I went next, and opted for a nice warm shower instead. While I was in there I had a closer look at my right hip. There were three horizontal scars where the Outsider's claws caught me, but thanks to Ruby's healing magic the marks looked almost fully healed already. They were still visible as wide pink lines across my skin, but they actually looked better than the scar on my forearm from the battle at Camp Hazen.

Ellie took over the washroom when I was done, and she was in there a good half hour as well. When she finally emerged Harper went last, and he took about the same amount of time as the rest of us. By noon the four of us were all chilling together in our little living-room area. Fiona and Ellie and I were all in our nightshirts, while Harper wore a t-shirt and boxer shorts. We had another bag of chips open, and we were all sipping some cola from our supply in the mini-fridge.

"I'm going to have to hide these from my parents," my girlfriend grumbled as she showed off the new pink scars on her right leg.

Harper grimaced, "Sorry my magic couldn't take care of those."

Ellie shook her head, "Nothing to apologize for. Without you it'd be a hundred times worse."

"I still can't believe you kicked an Outsider to death," Fiona commented with a wry smile. "That's hardcore."

The tomboy smirked, "I didn't just kick it, I also beat it with my staff. A lot. I only started kicking it once it got that tentacle around my leg."

"Either way it's impressive," I commented with a little smile of my own.

"Damn right," Fiona agreed. "You should be proud of yourselves, all three of you. You kids did good work this morning."

Then she raised her can of cola as if she was toasting us, "Here's to a job well done."

That made me blush a little, but neither my friends or I tried to argue. It was hard to feel proud about fighting for our lives, but saving those civilians definitely felt good.

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Mythriel, who sponsored it! **