A shrill scream came from the forest, instantly getting the attention of the four after minutes of silence. Edwin ran out of the bathrooms as Mateo took on a defensive position, hairs prickling. "The barrier's been broken. The second presence has arrived."

“There’s another monster already?!” Edwin said, zipping up his hoodie as he ran over to the others. “We literally just figured out how to use our basic powers!”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Mateo looked to the distance, his ears twisting. “Its back the way we came.”

“There are people over there!” Tabitha exclaimed. “You guys have to go save them!”

“Okay,” Ashley tossed her book onto the picnic table. “We need to get there fast. Edwin, you get the distance and aim for anything you think is weak. I’ll try not to die.”

“Always a good plan.” Edwin smiled, grabbing his keychain. “Guess it’s time to roll, huh?”

“No other choice.” Ashley replied, pulling her keychain from her pocket. “I’m going to be so sore tomorrow.” Together, the pair transformed and ran back to the entrance of the park. The wooded trail opened to a large field for sports, but few people had been present. The monster stood in the center of the field, groaning deeply with a hoarse, croaking voice. It looked like a gorilla with a thick, long tail. Eyes like a frog’s bulbously sat high on its human-like face, descending into sockets when it blinked. As Ashley and Edwin arrived on the scene, the monster spun to face them.

Peripherally, Ashley noticed a few people running into the forest. "We need to get civilians away from here, they're way too close." She summoned her sword and dug her heels into the dirt, preparing for any sudden moves on the monsters part. She wouldn't go flying today.

"We're calling them civilians now? Seems like someone’s getting into the hero role, Ruby." Edwin aimed his revolvers playfully at Ruby as they appeared in his hands. "I'll put Tabitha on crowd control, don't fret!" Edwin winked and ran back to the trail.

"Don't leave me alone!" Ruby called after him, to no avail. “Thanks, Sapphire.” She turned to meet the monster’s inhumane gaze and sprinted to where its tail lay on the ground. Thinking of the time her little sister stole her slice of chocolate cake, Ruby’s sword rippled with flames. She began to strike haphazardly along the tail, the monster's flesh sizzling whenever she made contact. The creature screeched and whipped its tail out of the way, and Ruby jumped back to a safer distance.

Sapphire quickly found Tabitha running alongside Mateo, panting heavily. "Oh thank god, are you here to carry me?" Tabitha asked.

"What? No. There's some stragglers still hiding around the field and we need you to get them away."

Hearing the news, Tabitha was instantly revitalized. "You're asking me to help with actual magical girl work? I won't let you down!" She grinned, picking up Mateo in her arms and charging ahead at a faster pace.

With close-range attacks being too risky, Ruby created a small fireball and lobbed it at the monster. The monster swatted the fireball away with its large, webbed hands. She dropped her sword, un-summoning it, and started producing even more fireballs, backing up as the creature advanced on her. If she concentrated, she could release them and they would float alongside her as she prepared more ammunition. With only two hands, it couldn't swat away all of them. The monster became more agitated, either because of the burns on its tail or Ruby's steady retreat just beyond reach.

"Ruby! I'm back!" Sapphire shouted as he reappeared from the woods. The surprise caused the stockpiled fireballs to disperse as Ruby turned to face her companion. Seeing its chance, the monster revealed its frog-like tongue, which quickly wrapped around Ruby and lifted her into the air.

She struggled against the sticky trap, but wriggling only caused the monster to grip tighter. "Sapphire! Look what you did! This is disgusting!" She screeched.

"I'll try and get you down! Stay calm!" Sapphire began firing rapidly at the monster's tongue, causing it to retract.

"Calm?! At a time like this?! I don't need your help!" Ruby shouted as she was enveloped by a burst of fire. The monster quickly let her go, pulling its smoking tongue back into its mouth. "I love magic!" Ruby exclaimed as she summoned her sword once more.

Tabitha was running around the edge of the field, coaxing anyone she found back on trails leading out of the park. When Ruby and Sapphire began fighting, people had stopped in their tracks and begun watching… and taking video. "This is why magical teams are preferable to pairs." Tabitha mumbled to herself as she ran to where a family hid behind a dumpster. "People with magical running powers can save the public without breaking a sweat."

The monster charged at Ruby and Sapphire, but the duo split up and ran to either side of the beast. Sapphire began charging his guns by forcing more and more water into them, pressurizing it. Ruby lit up her sword and the pair leapt to the creatures shoulders. They both aimed for its bulbous eyes, their attacks combining on impact and producing a rapidly expanding cloud of steam. The monster screeched and the pair dismounted. Starting from the bottom, the monster broke apart into small blobs of mud, which fell to the ground and sank into the soil.

The pair high-fived, only to be surprised by a bright flash behind them. "Tabitha, is everyone okay?" Ruby asked as she turned to face the camera. Behind the lens wasn't Tabitha, but one of their classmates.

Sarah Ortiz was known for her dedication to the Snapdragon Weekly, the surprisingly competent school newspaper. She spent her time between classes and after school prowling the school grounds with her camera, looking for the next story. Judging by the look in her eye, Sapphire and Ruby had just made the front cover.

"Excuse me! I'm a student at the local Junior High School here, and I'd like to know if I could interview you two." She smiled, adjusting the ends of the red scarf she wore tightly around her neck.

"Let me speak with my partner first!" Sapphire sputtered as he grabbed Ruby, twirling her around to face away from Sarah. "What are we going to do?" he whispered, pulling Ruby close.

"I don't know! We could just run away and pretend she wasn't here!"

"Don't you know Sarah? She'll follow us! Maybe we should just give her a little information..."

"There you go again with the telling secrets thing!” Ruby cut him off by pointing in his face. "We can't let anyone know what's going on! It's basic secret identity rules."

"Oh my god, is this your pet?" Sarah squealed. The pair flipped around to find Mateo at Sarah's feet.

"I'm sorry darling-" Mateo began.

"It talks!" She gasped, pulling up her camera to take a picture. "You sound just like the other one!"

"Yes, I can speak and I have something important to tell you. Ruby Fire and Sapphire Sea here are doing some very important work for me. We're very busy and can't talk to you at this time. Stay safe, human!" Mateo jogged back to the trail leading to the clearing, and Ruby and Sapphire followed diligently behind.

"Thanks for getting us out of there." Edwin said, untransforming when they were out of view of the field. Ashley followed soon after. He rubbed the back of his neck, adding, "I wasn't sure how much we're allowed to tell the public."

Mateo laughed when he heard Edwin's uneasy tone. "Humans are of no concern to us. I wouldn't have let Tabitha in on our adventure if we needed to keep secrets." He ended his remark with a swift tail flick, emphasizing his confidence.

Tabitha climbed down to meet the returning trio from her hiding place at the edge of the woods. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep Sarah from getting near you guys. I thought I had cleared the perimeter, but she snuck through my defenses. I saw her approaching you guys so I, uh, hid behind the nearest tree. I could've blown your cover if she saw me with you."

"It's no problem!" Ashley assured, and Edwin nodded in agreement. "There's no way you could have gotten everyone out of the field with the amount of time you had. But I do have to ask, Mateo, is it really safe to let Sarah get away with our picture? She is in the newspaper club..."

"I know for a fact that she would use those photos for her stories, despite not taking into account lighting or composition or any basic principles of photography!" Tabitha exclaimed. "Ugh! That girl just won't stop getting on my nerves!"

"You know Sarah?" Edwin asked.

"Regrettably, she's in my photography class. Not that she has any artistic sense at all! Journalism isn't just accented by pictures of events! The images are part of the story and their meaning shares a deeper understanding that words alone will never reach!"

"Enough of your little rivalry." Mateo interrupted. "Whatever this girl does is nothing compared to what your enemies are capable of doing. We don't have time to split hairs over a student when they fate of the town remains in limbo. Training is over for today. Tomorrow will prove to be very educational for you two, but I'm not assigning you a time. You'll know when it happens."

The group returned to the picnic area where their belongings were haphazardly left behind. Now they had another hour to kill before they could return to normal and go home, the battle resetting their “magic internal clock”. Ashley found where she had left off reading her homework assignment before she was so rudely interrupted, sighed, and went back to work.

“Oh, I just remembered!” Edwin suddenly piped up from where he laid on a picnic table. “Yesterday I got a bruise and when I got changed earlier I didn’t know if it would still be visible because, you know, different body, but it’s still there! Isn’t that cool?”

“Thanks for sharing?” Ashley looked at him with a raised eyebrow before putting her ear buds in.