Announcementcontent warning: violenceI was already anxious because of the two guys in front of us, but hearing a motorcycle pull up behind us set all my nerves on edge. I was ready to give my magic ring a twist at any moment as I braced myself then gnced over my shoulder at the new arrival.

  Except I ended up doing a double-take, while my emotions shifted from a sense of dread to feeling a mixture of surprise and maybe even a little relief. Instead of some burly biker like the guy who attacked me at work, the person behind us was a petite young woman about my age. And she was dressed in a very familiar outfit.

  She was wearing a short pleated skirt, a faux-leather bustier, and a pair of low-heeled ankle-boots. And all her clothes were vender purple, same as her short messy hair. Her eyes were a dark piercing blue, and they swept over all of us as she took in the situation.

  This was obviously the purple magical girl, although she wasn't the same girl we'd seen in those pictures from the nineteen fifties. Her outfit and hairstyle were the same, but her face was different. Which made sense, considering those pictures were taken almost seventy years ago.

  The girl ended up standing in front of her bike, with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face as her eyes swept back and forth over all of us.

  "Oh wow," Ellie mumbled to herself, after turning and seeing the new magical girl.

  Then Harper turned to look, followed by Amelia and my mom. By that point even the two pick-up truck guys were staring at the purple-cd girl.

  The younger guy demanded, "Who the hell are you?"

  "None of your damned business," the purple magical girl snapped back with a scowl.

  She spoke with an accent that sounded kind of English, and her words put a smile on my face. Not that I expected a magical girl to be working with my mom's family, but it was a relief to know she wasn't with them. Otherwise the men should have known who she was, and she probably would have been more friendly towards them.

  In fact I was almost ready to believe she was here to help us, until a moment ter when that hope was dashed. The magical motorcycle girl turned her attention on my mom, and seeing the angry gre in girl's eyes made my heart sink.

  Her voice sounded just as unfriendly as she stated, "I know who you are Lindsay Williams, and your hired goons aren't going to save you now. I'm here for the ring your family stole. Hand it over or face the consequences."

  Ellie and Harper and I all exchanged a worried gnce, while my mom seemed like she wasn't sure which threat she should be more worried about.

  In the end mom kept her eyes on the purple magical girl as she scoffed, "You obviously don't know anything about me, considering you're calling me by my maiden name. And those men might work for my mother but they sure don't work for me. They're looking for the same thing you are."

  "And we were here first," the older of the two men added. "So I'd appreciate it if you'd just move along miss. We might have to get physical here, and you don't want to be a part of that."

  "I dunno Lyle, I think I'd like to get physical with her," the younger guy commented as he leered at the purple magical girl.

  That earned him another smack across the back of his head as his senior partner sighed, "Seriously Tom? Did you even do the sensitivity training?"

  "You two are funny," the other magical girl stated in a very unamused tone. Then she clenched her right hand into a fist and started cracking her knuckles as she added, "And I'm all for getting physical. So how about we re-arrange a couple faces? Who wants to go first?"

  I gulped as I gnced around at my friends and family. Amelia looked scared, and she'd moved closer to our mom. Meanwhile Harper and Ellie both looked worried. My best friend seemed like she was ready to try and run for it if either the magical girl or the two men attacked, while the strong handsome jock looked like he was tensed up and ready to fight if necessary.

  Mom looked worried too, but she was also acting brave. Like if either the goons or the magical girl attacked us she was going to try and protect us, any way she could.

  As for me, my heart was racing and I had another cold weight in my gut. As much as I wished the whole problem would just go away, I knew I was the only one out of all five of us who had a chance of stopping the magical girl, along with the two men.

  So I took a deep breath then finally spoke up, "You folks are all talking about how you're here for the ring and telling my mom to hand it over. But my mom doesn't have it, I do. And I'm not going to give it up, not to a couple thugs working for some distant retive I've never met."

  "I'm not giving it to someone who just showed up and threatened my mother either," I added as I looked at the purple magical girl. "The ring is mine now, and I'm keeping it."

  Her eyes flicked down to my hands and I caught the brief look of realization in her expression when she saw the bck gold ring on my left pinky finger. She'd have noted that my right hand was next to it too, so she knew I was ready to give the ring a twist at a moment's notice.

  "Damn," the magical girl frowned. "So you people finally figured it out? Took you long enough."

  A moment ter she shook her head as if she'd just made a decision, "Doesn't matter. Even if you know how to use it, that doesn't make you the new Rosa. So go ahead and do it kid, then you and me can go one on one. It's time to fight like a girl."

  I gulped, "I don't want to fight you, or anyone else. I just want to keep my family and friends safe."

  The purple girl shrugged, "Best way to do that is hand over the ring. Second best is to use it. Then maybe you and I can go and settle things somewhere private."

  "What about -" I started to ask, but the other magical girl was already moving.

  She stalked forward like the fight was starting whether I was ready or not. So I did the only thing I could think of, I dropped my cup of soda and gave the ring a twist then punched the sky.

  There was a fsh of pink light, and a moment ter the purple girl's fist connected with my face. Next thing I knew I was leaning against the guys' pickup truck, in a me-shaped dent that I'd made in the body panels. My jaw ached and my ears were ringing, while my mom and sister both stared in horror as if they thought I'd been seriously hurt. Ellie and Harper looked scared too, but they already knew I was a lot more resilient in this form.

  And the two men both just looked stunned, like their eyes were wide and jaws hanging open. They obviously hadn't been told what the ring did, and they apparently didn't know anything about magical girls either.

  "Mom get the others away!" I told her as I straightened up. I winced as I cracked my jaw then added, "I'm ok! I'll be alright, just get everyone to safety!"

  "Touching, but you're far from ok," the other magical girl stated.

  She was a few paces away, back where I'd been standing when she first hit me. And instead of attacking again right away, she did something unexpected. She punched her right fist upwards at the sky, as if she was going to trigger her transformation. It didn't make any sense to me since she was already in her magical girl form, but a moment ter it all became clear.

  There was a fsh of purple light, and suddenly her right hand was gripping the handle of a rge two-headed axe. The bdes were made of a pale shimmering purple crystal like quartz or amethyst, while the handle seemed to be made out of a dark purple-hued wood. And as soon as the weapon appeared in her hand she lunged forward while swinging it overhead like she meant to split me in half.

  I let out a yelp and ducked sideways with a burst of superhuman speed that unched me halfway across the parking lot. Behind me the purple axe cleaved halfway through the pickup truck, almost completely separating the truck bed from the cab.

  Acting more on instinct than conscious thought I copied the other girl's move and thrust my fist skyward a second time. Sure enough there was another fsh of pink light, and an oddly familiar weight settled into my left hand. I lowered it down and grasped the long pink-toned wood shaft in both hands, while the rge multi-edged rose quartz head sparkled in the sunshine.

  "Oh heck yeah!" Ellie excimed. "You go girl, you got this!"

  At the same time the purple magical girl gred at me. She brandished her war axe and stalked towards me again as she growled, "Whatever. That still doesn't make you the new Rosa."

  That was the second time she mentioned the name Rosa, and there were probably a dozen questions I wanted to ask her about that. I was sure Ellie had a hundred more, but it didn't seem like either of us would get the chance.

  When the purple girl lunged at me swinging her axe again I used my magical halberd, but not to block or attack. Instead I jammed it into the ground and used it to pole vault over her head, then nded gracefully on my feet next to the front of the battered pick-up. It was still blocking my mom's car, until I pnted one of my pink ankle-boots on the front bumper and gave it a shove.

  With a squeal of rubber and some grinding noises from the engine compartment the abused vehicle slid backwards a dozen meters, well clear of mom's car. Then I told my family and friends, "Get in the car and go!"

  "And you two, get out of here!" I added to the pair of men who were still just standing there staring in sck-jawed shock.

  That was all the time I had before the next attack came, and this time I only managed to get my halberd up to block another swing of that purple crystal axe. The shock of the impact rattled my bones and I nearly dropped my weapon. As it was I was knocked back a good meter or two, then I just barely managed to block yet another of the purple girl's attacks.

  This time the bde of her axe struck my halberd's wooden handle, and I was positive the axe would slice clean through the shaft and continue on into my body. But my weapon held, and I realized that it must have the same kind of magical resilience as my body.

  The purple girl tried three more swings in rapid succession, and I somehow managed to block each one. With the speed we were both moving I really didn't have time to think about anything, and it almost seemed like my body was moving with a combination of instinct and muscle-memory, like I was benefiting from years of training that I hadn't actually done.

  The blows still left my bones rattled and muscles sore though, and each impact knocked me back even further. That actually worked out though, since it brought both my opponent and myself further away from my loved ones and the car.

  Unfortunately it also meant we were visible to anyone along the side of the restaurant, or folks on the street or the sidewalk. And a pair of cute teenage girls facing off in matching outfits with a pair of medieval magical crystal weapons was definitely the sort of thing that caught peoples' attention.

  For a few seconds I was torn between wanting to stay put so I could make sure mom got everyone to safety, and wanting to get the heck out of there before a crowd formed. The st thing I needed was to be fighting in front of an audience. Especially when they all had smartphones and half of them were recording the whole thing.

  The other girl swung her axe at my head once more, and I managed to block it just like all the others. Then behind her I spotted my family and friends all scrambling into mom's car, and a second ter they backed out of the parking spot. Amelia Ellie and Harper were all staring out the window at me, and for just a moment my best friend's eyes locked on mine.

  Without thinking what I was doing I fshed her a smile and a wink, and Ellie's cheeks went bright red as her eyes widened in surprise.

  Then she was gone, as my mom floored it and the car took off around the other side of the burger pce. At the same time my attention was drawn back to the other magical girl, but not by another attack.

  "Why the hell aren't you trying to fight back?!" she demanded angrily. She was still clutching her axe at the ready while she gred at me, but it seemed like she'd given up on trying to hit me with it. For now at least.

  I shook my head, "Like I already said, I don't want to fight you. Honestly I'm hoping that maybe we're both on the same side? You obviously know some stuff about my mom's family, but you don't know my mom and you don't know me."

  "If you really want to keep fighting though, maybe we should do like you said earlier and go somewhere private?" I nodded to the side as I added, "We've already attracted some attention there."

  She took a quick gnce in that direction then muttered under her breath, "Crap."

  Without making it too obvious she backed away behind the building so the spectators couldn't see her, and I followed along. I kept a couple meters away from her though, and I kept my weapon ready too. Just in case.

  She ended up standing next to her motorcycle, then gave me a wary look. "You know I was trying to kill you right?"

  "Yeah I figured," I shrugged. "Swinging that huge axe at my head was kind of a give-away."

  "And you still don't want to fight back?" she asked.

  "Nope," I shook my head. "I don't want to hurt you, or anyone else."

  Then I sighed as I added, "Look I don't even know what's going on, ok? I know my mom's reted to a bunch of creeps, but I only just found out about that this morning. My mom's a waitress, she works really hard to look after me and my sister, and she never wanted anything to do with this stuff."

  "So this morning I found out my grandmother's evil," I continued, "And at lunch my friends and I figured out that the woman's probably up to something, but we don't know what. Mom was going to tell us some more about her family history on the drive home, except you and those guys turned up and interrupted."

  The purple girl continued staring at me for another couple seconds, then she finally sighed and lowered her big axe. She muttered quietly, "Damn it all, you really are the new Rosa."

  "Call me Violet," she added as her axe vanished in another fsh of purple light. Then she turned and climbed on her bike as she added, "Ok Rosie hop on. I'll get us out of here before the authorities show up."

  Her change of attitude caught me by surprise. While she wasn't exactly being friendly, the fact that she'd made her axe go away and was offering to give me a lift was definitely a good sign. I still hesitated though, I wasn't sure if I should trust her. And I had a couple mundane concerns as well.

  "I don't have a helmet," I pointed out. "And I don't know how to make my halberd disappear."

  "And my name's not Rosa. Or Rosie," I added.

  Violet rolled her eyes as she started the motor, "And mine's not Violet. It's a code-name, or title. Anyways shut up and get on the bike, ok? You don't need a helmet, your skull's tougher than anything else around as long as you keep your ring active."

  "Just drop the halberd and will it away," she added. "How'd you know how to summon it if you don't know how to dismiss it?"

  I blushed, "I didn't know how to summon it until I saw you do the thing with your axe."

  That actually got a ugh out of her, while I tried to do what she said. I let go of the halberd as I willed it away, and sure enough it vanished in a fsh of pink light. Then I felt my cheeks get even warmer as I straddled the bike seat behind her, which was impossible to do with any sort of modesty considering how short our skirts were.

  I barely had time to wrap my arms around her waist before she revved the engine and we took off like a shot, past the group of curious onlookers who'd been coming to get a closer look at us.

  PurpleCatGirl