Claire was walking around Maikuni Town at night looking for witches and other magical girls to duel for their grief seeds. Claire liked going out late because she knew that other magical girls and witches showed up more in the darkness, like Sam did earlier. Claire's soul gem began to glow like a silver light as a magical signature could be seen. Claire looked at her soul gem to determine the location of the magical girl it detected. When she began walking, she saw a golden light, presumably from another soul gem. She flipped her hair as she transformed into her magical form, preparing to duel with the magical girl in her sights. Then, the street lights were fixed, enabling Claire to see her target. It was none other than Zion, her rival.
"Claire, what are you doing out so late?" Zion asked. Claire laughed.
"Well I was looking for magical girls to battle for their grief seeds. But I found you instead. Wiping you out will be fun!" Claire took out her clock hand swords as she face Zion.
"I'm not going to let you do that! You've bullied enough people in your life!" Zion shouted back as she transformed and took out her golden rapier sword.
"So you actually want to fight me now? How low will you go just to beat me up?" Claire mocked Zion in a singsong tone.
"You're one to talk, Claire. Prepare for battle!" Zion wound up and charged full speed at Claire, preparing to strike with her sword. Claire blocked the slash with one of her swords, then stabbed Zion's shoulder with the other. Zion slid back from the impact, then she jumped and raised her sword to try and split Claire in half before she darted back to avoid Zion's attack before going in and slashing her twice with her swords. Zion took the attacks well and got back up. She darted around Claire with her blistering speed as her sword began to crackle with electricity. Then she charged at Claire's back and delivered a fierce downeard slash, knocking her forward. After sliding against the pavement, Claire's face had a few scars, but she got up again. The tips of her swords glowed a bright blue as she held them at her sides. She lifted one of them, as if to taunt Zion into attacking. It worked. She fell for the taunt and charged full speed at Claire. Right as her sword was about to make impact, Claire dodged to her left and slashed Zion from behind, knocking her face into the pavement. Zion was running low on energy, so her breaths became quite heavy as she stood up. She turned to look at Claire with an uncharacteristically nasty glare.
"Y-You're a big jerk, Claire! You're the only person around here that I genuinely dislike!" Zion made a scathing remark. Claire smirked.
"What's wrong, little Zion? Too slow? Heehee~ mommy will slow it down for you, NOPE JUST KIDDING!" Claire giggled as she glided right up to Zion and slashed her with her two swords, knocking Zion to the ground, then slashing her back just to kick her while she was down. Then Claire stepped back.
"I'll spare ya for now. I just wanted to have some fun before I actually kill you later. See you then, Zion! And don't you dare bore me!" Claire untransformed and snatched one of Zion's grief seeds before leaving. Zion got up slowly and limped away. She untransformed as she fell down, waiting for her body to heal. Just then, Pamela came along.
"Zion! What happened to you?!" Pamela asked.
"I had a fight with Claire… and I lost." Zion spoke with a tone that indicated pain.
"Claire… she's a magical girl too?" Pamela seemed concerned as she picked up Zion and began carrying her home.
"Yeah… and she's really strong… she has two swords and she's almost as fast as me…" Zion weakly spoke.
"If she's that strong, then we gotta train hard. We can beat her together if we try!" Pamela tried to motivate Zion by affirming that they could defeat Claire together. Zion smiled as she rested her head against Pamela's chest and hugged her.
"I love your optimism, Pamela… moments like this are why you're my bff…" Zion smiled as she told her best friend exactly how she felt.
"I love you too, Zion! Platonically, of course, but I still love you! Why else would I be rescuing you right now?" Pamela asked as she arrived at Zion's house. Trae was at the door in his pyjamas.
"Hey, Zion. Hey, Pamela. How was the witch hunt?" Trae asked.
"Zion got into a battle with Claire and lost. She needs time to recover." Pamela informed Trae. Trae ran up to Pamela and carefully took Zion.
"I'll get her started on the healing process. She should be good in a day or two." Trae assured Pamela that Zion would be okay. "For now, I'll see you at school tomorrow." Trae turned to the house as he took Zion inside and rested her on the couch. It was going to take time for her to heal up. Hopefully she would be back in action soon.