Chapter 19: Transformation in Public

4 days later…

Today, Caitlin and Jessica took the bus to go to the mall. Caitlin did have a car, but it was having problems. So she was waiting for it to get fixed. Jessica, on the other hand, didn't have one yet but was saving her money to get a car. "So which store do we go to first?" Jessica asked.

"Let's go to Hot Topic first," replied Caitlin. They went to Hot Topic and afterwards, went to other stores like Barnes & Noble, the long since fixed Kohls, and more. When they left the mall, they went to the bus stop and waited for the bus. While waiting they just talked. "So what are you going to do afterwards?" questioned Caitlin.

"I don't know," Jessica responded. "Hey Cait, do you think we're out of danger? I mean, Gloria really knew this guy Ation."

"I highly doubt it," replied Caitlin. "Gloria's in even more danger than us. But don't worry about her. Ashley and Melissa have been guarding her themselves, using spells, monsters, or be there themselves."

"How come they didn't ask us to help?"

"They said that they didn't want to ruin our plans and gave us a few days for ourselves. Besides, they can handle it themselves and if they need us, they'll holler for us. Maybe later, we can see if we can—"

"Oh great!" Jessica lowered her head in disappointment.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Craig."

Craig came up to them and said "Hi!" Caitlin and Jessica groaned, but not too loud. They didn't like him as much once they found out his true personality. He was annoying and was a bit too perverted. "Oh hey," Caitlin said, sounding not the least bit excited.

"So what's happening?" Craig asked.

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff!"

"Ok, ok sorry. How are you guys?"

They both sighed. They wanted him to go away. "What?" Craig wondered. He couldn't see why they didn't seem all that happy. Out of the blue, a fireball that Caitlin first caught headed towards a convertible. "Hey Jess, look," announced Caitlin.

Jessica also spotted it heading towards the convertible. Craig couldn't see it. "What are you looking at?" he said.

"Craig, just go away and leave us alone!" Jessica ordered.

"Jess we have bigger problems," Caitlin reminded her. They were about to run towards the vehicle that was in danger, but they couldn't react fast enough for the fireball struck its target with full impact. The four people, a man, a woman, and two children, were incinerated instantaneously. The car exploded and flipped into the air. It landed on its back. Flames engulfed its interior as well as the outside. A horse jumped off a nearby building and landed on the burnt, destroyed car. This horse was very different from any other horse. The mane and tail were made of flames rather than hair. Its eyes burned a fiery red and orange. The hooves were red and it was a very light yellow. "My God, that's one weird looking horse," Caitlin remarked.

"Yeah, a freakish horse that we have to fight," Jessica added.

"But we can't transform in front of everybody," murmured Caitlin.

"Crap! That's right," Jessica snapped. She quickly tried to think of a plan that could help distract everyone. Then she added, "We have to go to a bush or something."

"Like that one?" Caitlin pointed at a large bush that could hide them both.

"Ok, let's go!" Jessica and Caitlin gave their stuff to Craig and ran to the bush to transform. People were running away from the horse and weren't paying attention to what was going on. They popped out and stood in front of the horse. "Jessica, Caitlin, I'm gonna help as well!" bellowed Craig.

"No!" Caitlin and Jessica scolded him.

"But why?"

"Unless you want to deal with Melissa and Gloria, you will do as we say. Now say one more word and people might be on to us!" Jessica retorted.

"Aye Jess, move ye self out of the way!" Caitlin warned.

Jessica looked back to see the horse charging towards her. She jumped up and landed on its back. She tried to wrap her arms around the horse's neck to hang on but its burning mane scorched her. She granted herself fire immunity and held on tight. The horse attempted to get her off by kicking the air. "Whoa! Cait, do something!" Jessica urged.

"Aye mate, hang on!" Caitlin yelled.

The horse smacked into moving vehicles, hurting Jessica's leg. But nevertheless, she held on. The horse jumped and landed on its back, ran in circles, and continued to smack into poles and moving vehicles. Jessica still didn't let go, no matter what kind of pain the horse put her through. She knew that as long as she hung on, the horse would concentrate on getting her off rather than hurt innocent people and cause more destruction.

Caitlin took her sword out and aimed it at the horse's hooves. "C'mon mate. C'mon," she thought to herself, waiting for the right moment.

Her sword started to glow an icy blue and cold air was starting to leak from the sword. When she finally got a good aim, she yelled, "Eat frost…WEIRD HORSE!"

A comet of frost erupted from the tip of the sword. The force of it pushed Caitlin back a little. The frosty blast hit the ground where the horse's hooves were. It quickly froze the horse's feet, giving Jessica an opportunity to get off. "Haha! Now try to move!" Caitlin laughed in triumph.

"Caitlin! It can melt the ice!" Jessica moaned loudly, angry at Caitlin for forgetting such a vital thing.

"What?"

The horse took in a deep breath and spit a fireball at its frozen hooves. It didn't hurt itself, but it melted the ice. A small puddle of water was all that remained. It faced Jessica and Caitlin and snorted, lowering its head. It scraped at the ground with its hoof like a bull. "Oh…poopy," Caitlin finally realized her mistake.

The horse charged with full speed. "Even though fire beats ice, water still conquers fire. Boetq istalri!" Jessica yelled.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a tornado made of water (can also be known as a water spout) formed right in front of the horse. The horse ended its attack and tried to escape but was sucked in by the tornado's powerful winds. Jessica and Caitlin watched as the horse went around and around and around. Everyone around them also watched in awe. Finally after a minute, the tornado disappeared. The horse fell from the sky and hit the ground with a big impact, leaving a crater in the street. It landed on its back, instantly breaking its spine and neck. The mane and tail were no longer burning the powerful flames like before. "I think our job is done," Jessica smiled.

"Dang, that ended faster than everyone else's fights," observed Caitlin.

"Well that's because it was two against one," Jessica said. Then she added in a soft voice, "Let's transform back."

"Uh…Jess, we can't. We're in front of people," Caitlin whispered back.

Jessica looked around and could see why. People were staring at them in fear, surprise, and interest. Some were talking on phones. "Crap!" she cried out

"Aye matey, we'd better run!" Caitlin advised.

"Minka harak!" Jessica yelled, wasting no time.

A creature soon came into sight. It had black fur with a white underbelly, the body of a big cat, the face and wings of an eagle, and the tail of a horse. It was a gryphon, one of Jessica's favorites to summon for battle. "Let's get on! People are recording this," Caitlin informed.

Jessica and Caitlin hastily got on and the gryphon flew into the air with a flap of its big, powerful wings. It headed towards Craig and extended its paws to grab him by the shoulders. And without looking back, they headed home. As soon as Jessica and Caitlin reached home, they called everyone. They had to tell them about the desperate thing they had done to protect the city that could put them in greater danger of being discovered.

"What's with the big news?" Gloria asked.

"You guys, we have very bad news," Jessica said.

"Ok…but what?" Ashley wondered.

"We…transformed in public when we were fighting a new monster," Caitlin finally answered.

"You WHAT!" Ashley, Gloria, and Melissa shouted at the same time.

"It was either fight the monster or let it kill until we transform out of public," Caitlin clarified.

"In point of fact, we transformed behind a bush. But we still fought in public," Jessica corrected.

"But now we have a serious problem on our hands," Gloria prompted. "Let's check the news for a sec."

Gloria turned the TV on and changed it to the news. Once she had it on, she turned up the volume and they all stayed seated quietly and listened. "Today at 2:30 PM, a fight was reported between a horse in flames and what seemed like a pirate and a witch," the female reporter stated. "A large fireball was reported to have destroyed a convertible, killing two kids and a married couple. The explosion had also given nearby people 3rd degree burns. Both the witch and the pirate seemed to have powers that easily killed the horse. Soon after, a monster, which witnesses are saying to be a gryphon showed up and took a young man with it. Here is exclusive footage of the last remaining moments of the fight." They saw a video that showed Caitlin and Jessica fighting but with their backs turned. When Melissa saw the horse, she knew what it was. "Hey, that's a yellow leaper!"

"A what?" Ashley questioned, confused.

"I'll tell you later," Melissa replied.

The video showed Caitlin freezing the horse's feet. The horse used its fire to get rid of the ice and then charged at both girls. Jessica summoned a water tornado and then the horse was sucked into its swirling cone body. The horse fell on its back and died. Caitlin and Jessica looked around and saw people looking at them. Jessica summoned a gryphon, who took them away, including someone that was holding a lot of bags. Then the video was done. "Police say that whatever or whoever they are, they're still out there. They are considered armed and extremely dangerous. They ask you to be very alert," the reporter said. "Also, one of the witnesses identified the abducted young man as Craig Horner. A $50,000 reward is being offered to whoever can bring Craig back, alive and safe. Back to CNN."

Gloria took the TV off and told them once again that this was why they needed to be even more cautious about their powers. "We're sorry G," Jessica apologized.

"It's alright. You did what you had to do," she said.

"Jeez, we don't even get a thank you from those people," Caitlin remarked.

"So…may I speak?" Melissa asked politely.

"Go ahead Mel," Gloria said.

"Alright," Melissa went on. "The monster you guys fought was, like I had said previously, a yellow leaper. The race of fire horses began more recently than the other races we fought. They were created 175 years ago. It all started out with a red horse with eyes that were the color of fire. But the people of the village it was born in didn't like it and, like the hellhound, they believed that it was evil. So they literally set it on fire. But they soon realized their error. The horse was now a darker red and had burning scars on its skin and its mane and tail were now blazing with sizzling fire. Its eyes were burning with angry flames. For payback, it destroyed the peoples' homes and ultimately burned down the town into ashes. Another horse was born like that a few months later. The first fire horse also set this horse on fire to give it the power of fire. They continued to breed as time went by. People started to kill more of these horses as they grew. They feared that the fire horses would kill everything and anyone. However, these horses were kind and gentle. Even so, people slaughtered them. But some humans tried to protect them for they discovered the horses' true nature. As all humans, however, the hunters didn't give the horses a chance to show them they meant no harm. The fire horses soon understood what they had to do. They knew that no matter what they did, they could never live in peace. So they fought back.

"Eventually they moved to warmer places where humans wouldn't intrude. They soon began to live either in volcanoes or near them. They loved the scorching heat of the lava. There are five types of fire horses. The weakest type is called the flare horse. They aren't very strong but they are the quickest. The 2nd type is the flamer horse. The 3rd type is the blue fire. These are unique because their fire is blue, hence the name. The 4th type is the yellow leaper. These horses can leap very far and very high. The 5th and strongest type is the fiery machine. These are also unique because they're half horse and half machine. But this horse is a very rare sight indeed. Very few have faced this powerful beast and lived to tell the tale."

"So what are we going to do about this?" Gloria asked.

"Well, we can make peace with them," Caitlin suggested. "They're just like the thunder lizards. They just want revenge like them because they're being killed just because they look evil, even when they're truly kind. So if this is successful, they can become our allies."

"Good plan," observed Ashley. Gloria inquired, "Where can we meet them Ms. Monster-Know-It-All?"

"Well let's see," said Melissa. With a thoughtful expression she answered, "We can meet them in a volcano."

"WHAT!" Ashley, Jessica, Caitlin, and Gloria cried out in unison.

"Well unless you want to go to a place like the Sahara, we have to go to a volcano," Melissa explained. "Mind you, if we go to a place like the Sahara, we have to spend hours looking for them."

"How the hell are we supposed to go in a volcano?" questioned Ashley angrily.

"Since fire horses live in volcanoes they have created complex homes in it. It's like a city in the volcano. There are always guardians outside the volcano," Melissa clarified.

"So we ought to do what Caitlin suggested. We must talk to the leader of the group. So once we get past the guards, assuming we do, and then Jessica will use a spell to protect us from the heat. And we'll take it from there. Melissa, where is the nearest volcano?" Gloria finished.

"In our old home: Victorville," Melissa responded.

"Then it's settled. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

Everyone nodded in reply and departed. Ashley and Melissa set out to Gloria's house to guard her. Today they would have to stand guard until 12 AM. Because of the attack, Gloria needed to be protected at all costs. Ashley and the others would take turns doing this. On the day after today, they would need to get ready to go on a heated adventure that could cause them harm.