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Inside a mostly deserted studio, five figures stood in the middle of a kids' show set, surrounded by various old puppets and props. One of the figures, a red batlike monster with demonic horns, clenched his fists as he began to glow with a dark red aura. The other four--a blue furry hybrid of a goat and a bear, a pink birdlike creature, a yellow lizard with large fins that could be mistaken for wings, and the spectral form of a girl with dark hair--glared at him. "Last chance, Moloch,” the blue creature growled. “Go back to Hell, and you just might live to see another day.” “Not without the girl’s power,” the red beast—Moloch—snarled back. “You meddling spirits may have stopped me from claiming it after her father killed her—“ “I think you mean after you made her father kill her,” the lizard interrupted. “Couldn’t do it yourself, could you?” “No, he just wanted a repeat of the old days,” said the bird. “After all, nobody sacrifices children any more, except the sickest of sorcerers. Tim wasn’t like that, so you probably got a real kick out of breaking him down.” “Enough of this!” Moloch roared, his hands igniting into flames. At the same time, the puppets started to glow red, animated by the demon’s infernal powers. “I agree,” the girl declared, conjuring fire of her own. “Buster, Zelda, Lysander, let’s do this.” With that, Carrie Denson and her friends sprang into action: Buster, the blue creature, slammed his paws into the ground, causing chunks of earth to break free and rise into the air. He hopped onto one, making the others fly after the larger puppets. Zelda, the bird, took to the air. Rather than using her wings to fly, she instead called forth powerful gusts of wind, some of which were used to slice the smaller puppets to ribbons. Lysander, the lizard, conjured multiple orbs of water, making them circle around his companions. Any enemy that got too close was struck by one of those orbs, the water freezing them seconds after the orb burst. And Carrie, floating in place with her legs folded, calmly directed her focus inward, concentrating on the flame that constantly burned within her. While her friends kept the puppets off her back, she built up that flame with thoughts of her father, and of what Moloch had made him do. She let those thoughts fill her with fury, and the bands of fire that kept her safe from Moloch while she focused became white hot. Finally, she opened her eyes, now glowing like twin embers. “When I give the word,” she said to her friends. “Run.” As she turned back to Moloch, her entire body was engulfed in flames, making her look like a human torch. Raising her arms with her palms facing the ceiling, she glared at the demon as a ball of white flame materialized. “Diminished on stage, to bumble, to kid.But now you will pay...for the deed that YOU did!” She thrust her arms forward, the fireball growing to the size of a watermelon. “Go!” Without hesitation, the others turned and exited stage left. Carrie threw the flame at Moloch before flying after them. The demon’s screams as he was consumed by the holy fire echoed in their ears as they fled. Just as they exited the building, there was a loud whoosh as it went up in flames. They collapsed to the ground, watching it blaze. “Now what?” asked Buster once they had recovered. “Easy,” Carrie replied. “We find Dad.”
