EPISODE 10- Downward Spiral
Gretchen gasps at the familiar sight of Josner and Wagner.
"We must admit we are impressed by you. You and your friend are the first to have escaped Helheim, but this will be the end for you." Wagner claimed.
"What do you want from me, you beasts!?" Gretchen shouted.
"The better question *wheezes* would be "What has she done to you?"" Josner replied back to Gretchen.
Gretchen gasps realizing that he is referring to Mrs. Feyersied. Suddenly, Balzac and what was left of the protestors march in the throne room
"THERE THEY ARE!" shouted Balzac as he and the protesters enter the throne room. "TAKE THE TYRANTS!"
"What is the meaning *wheeze* of this?!" Josner roared in anger.
"Perhaps THIS should answer your question!" proclaimed Balzac as he holds what's left of Hermod's head on one hand and a vile of the toxin on the other hand.
Balzac glares at Gretchen and tells her "Leave while you still can, child. Tell whoever you trust about this."
Gretchen leaves the throne room post haste.
"You DARE pass on information *wheeze* vital to our plans of conquest to a *heavily wheezes* magical girl!?" exclaimed Josner "You shall pay for this *wheeze*insolence." "Wagner... get these idiots *wheeze* out of here."
Wagner laughed sinisterly upon being given the command. Balzac and his rebellion watch in awe of Wagner's powers. Wagner uses telekinesis to throw Balzac and his rebellion out of the throne room and locks the throne room. The impact onto the floor was so hard, Balzac's rebellion was almost entirely wiped out in one go. Balzac gets up and looks at what is left of the protesters and looks over at Gretchen from a distance.
"Do not fret, little one…. Hopefully they will no longer hurt you…." Balzac told himself before rallying what's left of the protestors back to the abandoned dungeon grounds.
Later that day at the Fireside Girls Secret Clubhouse, the troop minus Gretchen have grouped up before their nightly monster hunt.
"Gretchen ditched the rest of her classes." Confirmed Isabella to her troop mates.
"That's not like her." Milly replied
"She was acting up recently" told Adyson to Milly. "She was slamming and punching her locker."
"What the locker do to her?" wondered Katie to which Adyson replied with a deadpan look on her face.
"Wait a minute….no one has heard from Gretchen since this afternoon?" Adyson questioned to the rest of her troop.
"Relax." Isabella calmly responded.
"Isabella, did you notice a scratch on Gretchen during the attack? I noticed that it was bleeding something black." Adyson questioned to Isabella.
"Adyson, you on your meds or something?" Ginger questioned.
"It was dark, Adyson." Holly added to Adyson's statement.
"Exactly!" Adyson said.
"She did say it burned." Milly came to the realization.
Adyson pulls out her Fireside Girl Handbook and browsed through the pages.
"AHA!" shouted Adyson as everyone in the lodge looks into the book. The page which Adyson looked featured a picture of one of the monsters that corrupted their comrade.
"That's the big, bad and ugly that attacked her?" Holly questioned.
"Apparently we underestimated their capabilities." Adyson stated. "What do we do now?"
As soon as she finished her sentence, a loud knock came from the door. Everyone in the lodge gasped in horror, worrying that someone found out their magical girl secret.
Isabella draws her claymore and shouted "Identify yourself."
The door opens as Gretchen appears before the girls. She had her bow out as she staggers in the clubhouse. She now donned a scar across her face from the fight.
"Gretchen…reporting for magical girl duty, Chief." Gretchen grumbled under her breath.
Isabella noticed the scar where her glasses were. Though, when she escaped from Helhiem, her glasses magically regenerated.
"What happened to ya?" asked Adyson.
"Just a fight... That's all." Gretchen replied.
"Must have been a tough one...huh?" Adyson responded.
Gretchen glares at her as the toxins within her intensify. She rushes Adyson, pins her to the wall with her bow under Adyson's throat.
"I'll gladly show you what I did to the monster." She said in a dark and gruffly voice.
Gretchen instantly snapped back into reality. Upon realizing what she did, she drops Adyson and steps back, staring in horror. Everyone in the room was shocked at Gretchen's actions.
"WHAT'S... *cough* Gotten into ya, Gretch?" Adyson said as she recovered.
"I'm sorry... I have to go." Gretchen cried as she flees from the clubhouse.
"What are we gonna do without her?" Adyson asked.
"It'll be like if she's sick." responded Isabella as she glares at Adyson "We should get ready for our next exercise."
Just outside of the clubhouse, the toxins kick in and Gretchen flips out on nearby trees, filling them with arrows. Upon hearing her flipping out, Ginger runs out of the clubhouse and transforms into her magical girl outfit. Milly, Katie and Adyson followed suit as four arrows thud into the ground in front of them. Isabella rushes out to find Gretchen levitating in mid-air with a sinister demeanor.
"Hello girls." Gretchen said with a wicked smile.
"Gr-Gretchen... What are you doing?!" said Isabella in utter shock.
"What do you mean what am I doing?" darkly responded Gretchen.
"You're turning your back on the whole troop!?" asked Isabella.
"What are you going to do about it?" Gretchen taunted as she casually knocks an arrow from her bow.
"What are you doing Gretchen? Quit messing around." said Katie.
"Girls, back away slowly." Isabella ordered to her troop mates.
"Oh come on... It's just Gretchen." refuted Holly as she glared at her leader.
Just then, Gretchen fires an arrow and landed near where Holly was standing.
"Come now Isabella, you haven't told them?" Gretchen told her superior.
"Told us what?" Katie asked.
"This isn't you, Gretch." refuted Isabella.
"I can see why she hasn't told you. Adyson's prone to attack the situation without thinking. Ginger wouldn't know how to..." Gretchen tauntingly told Isabella before she was interrupted by Isabella.
"Shut up!" shouted Isabella. "That isn't the real you and you know it!"
"So who wants to try me?" challenged Gretchen.
"It does not have to be this way." Said Adyson as she steps up to fight Gretchen with her electrical gauntlets.
"That's what you think." Darkly stated Gretchen as she fires three arrows from her bow.
As the arrows approached Adyson, she barely dodges the arrows with her lightning quick reflexes. Gretchen mutters something under her breath and knocks three more arrows.
"You can't win, Sweetwater." she boasted.
Adyson dashed back and forth, jumped towards Gretchen and used the "Knee of the Sparkplug", which was not very effective on Gretchen much to Adyson's suprise.
"What the-?" Adyson proclaimed after the failed attack.
"Surprise!" Gretchen smirked evilly as she swipes at Adyson with her bow.
"Adyson, get back!" commanded Isabella.
"I'll take care of her, Chief." Ginger told Isabella, much to Gretchen's surprise.
Ginger used a technique called "Tornado Assault" which saw her twirl her spear above her head, causing a miniature tornado. Gretchen goes down to one knee, swipes her bow at Ginger's feet. Ginger falls down as a result. Gretchen rolls to her feet and loads a toxin laced barbed arrow this time.
"Anything you want to say?" Gretchen asked.
"Yeah..." Ginger said as she used her grappler from her spear.
"GET OVER HERE!" she screamed as she performs an Uppercut on Gretchen.
Gretchen lands in the dirt a few feet away. She slowly got up to her feet and said "I wish you hadn't done that."
Ginger prepares an attack called "Gust Stab" to which she tries to stab her opponent in rapid succession.
"Ginger! Don't kill her! She's still our friend!" Isabella screamed.
Ginger got distracted from Isabella and missed her target. Gretchen takes advantage of this mistake and rams her bow into Ginger's gut.
"Anyone else you want to throw at her, Isabella?" Ginger asked her superior as she holds her hands over her gut in pain.
Then, Katie steps up to challenge Gretchen to fight her.
"Really? Katie?" scoffed Gretchen.
"You leave me no choice." Katie told her.
Gretchen rolled her eyes and said "Oh please. This is coming from the girl who literally tried thinking like a bee, and has the attention span of a-"
In the middle of her sentence, Katie used the technique called "Volcano Eruption" which caused a brief and small lava eruption on the target. Gretchen took critical damage from the attack and faints to the ground. Gretchen reverted to her civilian form.
"Adyson, Katie, help me with her." Isabella told both of her troop mates as they bring her back in the clubhouse.
"There, now she can't really be a danger to us. Milly, Holly, can you assist Ginger?" Isabella commanded as she slips Gretchen's bracelet off her wrist.
Adyson and Katie carried Gretchen back inside the lodge while Isabella helps Milly and Holly with Ginger. Adyson lays Gretchen on the couch while laying the bracelet on the table near the couch. Isabella powers down to her civilian form and bites her thumb thinking about the possibility of Gretchen turning to the darkness. Suddenly, Gretchen regains consciousness and reaches for her bracelet. Isabella lunged for the bracelet but misses her target by a few inches as Gretchen grabs the bracelet and flees the scene.
"Adyson!" shouted Isabella as Adyson was grabbing her partially eaten sub-sandwich from the refrigerator.
Meanwhile at Mrs. Feyersied's Office, Eliza is sorting through her paperwork. She suddenly felt a disturbance near the Tri-State Area.
Eliza gasped and said to herself "Something…is not right…in this realm…"
She got up from her chair and stormed out of her office. But as soon as she opened the door, a mysterious figure appeared before her.
"It has been too long, Eliza" said the mysterious figure.
"Ca…Cassandra?!" Is…is that you?" Eliza said in horror of the sight of her long lost ex-friend.
Cassandra emitted a smoke screen which instantly teleported both her and Eliza out of the room and into Helheim.
End of Episode 10