Aria had never liked Pinatas, not since one of her birthday parties had featured one that fell off its string and onto her 4 year old head. And now that this monster was imitating one that could fire its spikes at them, her dislike of the things was only reinforced. She leaped backwards again, swinging her sword to swat away spikes she could reach in time, and then dodging away from the ones she couldn't. The others who had gathered were trying to subdue it a little while avoiding the onslaught, but they would need something decisive to finish the job. In a moment created by the chain wrap she looked down at the feathers hoping to find three of them, but only two were lit and the third could easily take far too long to build.

And then she recalled the girl with the mismatched eyes.

Moving quickly, Aria found where Torami was and dashed to her side. She slammed her sword into the ground in front of her, then threw her arms out in front of her to call up a much larger, much thicker barrier of fire than she'd been summoning before to surround both her and the other young lady. "Do whatever you need to do," she called behind her as spike after spike either stopped at the flames or was brushed aside by their rage, "I'll make sure it doesn't- AH!" One of the spikes had managed to penetrate the barrier and clipped her shoulder. She kept her footing however, and redoubled her focus on making the wall last. "I'll make sure it doesn't get a chance to stop you!" she finished, smiling despite one of her eyes being half closed in pain.

'It survived, huh?' Torami had been disheartened as this came across her mind, 'What a bother...'

Still, she had to keep on the offensive. Many others had been fighting the monster off too, including a sword-wielder who could summon and manipulate flames. If memory served Torami, this girl was the first to engage the enemy, even before Torami herself decided she'd best spring into action. She'd been holding her own thus far, but Torami could only wonder how long she could keep this up.

Another girl had used her power to transform a nearby tree into what looked to be a crane, and used it to hoist the monster in mid-air where it seemed to be helpless. It was an interesting power, and had proven very useful in the heat of the moment. However, the monster had one more attack it could use. It fired the spikes on its body all around the park, in a last-ditch effort to skewer who it could.

Torami instinctively reached for her umbrella, which had transformed into a giant mace right at the start of the battle. She brought it up high, intending to swat down the spike that was coming for her. It looked as though following through with that swing wasn't necessary; the fire girl rushed to Torami's defense, erecting a barrier to repel all the spikes coming this entire direction. Unfortunately, one of the spikes had managed to break through, scratch the girl's shoulder on the way past and slam into the ground behind them. Torami appreciated the girl's valiant effort to protect them, but her sudden injury was enough cause for Torami's concern.

"I thank you for coming to my aid, but... are you sure you are quiet alright?" she asked.

Torami had half a mind to see if she could heal the girl, but something she said before she was struck had resonated within the heterochromatic girl. Do whatever you need to do. It wasn't until she took that second to think it through that Torami realized what she really needed. She needed that thing to repent for the damage it had done. It wasn't going to repent if it didn't understand, and the only way to make it understand was...

"I shall borrow this," Torami decided, walking over towards the spike that had penetrated the fire girl's barrier and pulling it out from the ground. She then made her way underneath the monster. First, she tossed the spike lightly in the air, giving it enough of a spin so it would point to the same place she had hit her Star Grenade. Next, Torami brought her mace up and forward again, this time lining it up with her right eye as it generated more starlight. This was it. The moment she'd been waiting for.

"Luminous Eye. One more time," with that, Torami allowed the force of the starlight beam to rip the mace from her hand, where it would collide with the spike she tossed earlier and propel it forward. With both the weight of a gargantuan mace and the power of a strong beam of starlight behind it, the spike soared into the air as part of a makeshift javelin, with more than enough speed for a through and through penetration.

---

_{Location: Angel City, Cherubim Park - October 25, Friday}

Event: Monster End

Lampooned by its own spike, the Monster gave one last bellow of pain, and then started to disintegrate right before their very eyes. Starting from the worst of its injuries a dark aura spread out over the creature's body and started to evaporate into dark particles. The damage spread and before long, the creature was no more and black and violet colored bubbles littered the dark sky. The Entity, in the form of a girl, walked over to the monster's essence, held up an open palm and the dark particles were sucked up like a vacuum cleaner.

"Glad everyone managed to work together on such short notice. It doesn't always work out so well." With those slightly ominous words, the girl smiled and looked at the new batch of warriors with a discerning eye.

With the monster now completely gone the damage that had been done in the battle reset back to how it was. No longer was there giant holes and tunnels in the ground, spikes in the trees, or claw marks anywhere. Cherubim Park was back to how it was before. The young man who had been crushed at the beginning was quite puzzled as he found himself lying on the ground in the dark.

"When did I fall asleep?" He questioned as he started to push himself off the ground. Before he could get a good look around though, the strange girl intervened.

"Actually you are still dreaming, you'll wake up on your bed soon." The strange girl implanted a powerful suggestion into his mind and with a nod and a mumble, he started walking home in a bit of a trance.

"Good, now we don't have to worry about the general populace. As you can see, once a monster is eliminated all that it has done in this world is wiped from existence, pretty convenient for you guys to be sure. Course if a monster survives for too long such things can become a little more permanent."

She stopped a put a finger to her mouth, and tilted her head as if to question herself. "Hmm I know all this can be a bit much for a human mind so, I'll get the exposition short for now. In summary, you guys have powers to stop these monsters that are starting to appear in your world and if you bag enough of them I'll be able to make your deepest wishes come true? Simple no? I suggest you all get to know each other a little better if you want any chance of winning, the Razorback is frankly nothing more than an overgrown mole after all." The Entity grinned, a rather toothy grin. Just looking at her one could tell she was a bit, 'off', like a marionette rather than a human, which was pretty on point actually since it was merely imitating a human form to be more presentable to the new fighters.

---

Emily ran as fast as she could, until she was out of breath and leaning against a wall while panting heavily. _{"Just what was all that?"} She managed to mumble while catching her breath and set the picnic basket on the ground. She looked back at where the park was and then, her mind went blank.

Confused she looked around, wondering why she was in a fairly random part of town, it hadn't been that long ago she had been with her friends. For some reason the picnic basket and the guys' frisbee was in her possession. They had planned to walk home together and yet for some reason her friends had left her. There hadn't been a fight or anything that she could remember...just what had happened? Well, she would just have to call them to check.

As she took out her phone her eyes glanced down to the picnic basket and frisbee, at least they would be able to return the frisbee to those guys, if they could find them again. She dialed a number and waiting for one of her friends to pick up.

"Hey what happened to everyone?"

As the final hits killed the creature, that just disintegrated away, the magical girl in yellow let go of the tree, which turned back into its usual tree. Around them the world started to change back to normal, as if nothing had happened, and the weird fizzing in and out of existence girl approached. The magical girl in yellow saluted her.

"Oi oi, hello there! It's all gone well again I see! Um, I have a request from all of you. I promised the other me some chocolate, but I ain't allowed to break the law for it. So um, someone buy me some chocolate or pass some money for chocolate before this all fades away? Pretty please? Help a homeless girl out!"

She looked at each person there hopeful that one of them might help.

The fight was over surprisingly quickly, and Ken was astonished by the ease with which the others had dispatched the giant monster. Then again, the thing was on its last legs by the time Ken decided to lend a hand, so it wasn't too abrupt of an end. Quickly, Ken started looking over the others, evaluating what was happening and how he could provide his assistance.

The man with the brush was nearly struck by one of the spines, and Ken had to focus on him for a few seconds to make sure that he wasn't hit. He had barely managed to block the spike that was aimed at him by the monster, using the weird ink that he created with his brush. Ken dismissed him as being a possible injured person, moving on to the others.

The girl with the fire sword seemed to manifest a large flame barrier in an attempt to guard another one of the fighters - the fire made it hard to see but judging by her exclamation, Ken assumed she got grazed with an attack. At the very least, she could still respond afterward and the fire was still under control - Ken planned on healing her after the battle was over and the monster incapacitated. The girl that the swordswoman protected was very nonchalant she finished off the spiked monstrosity - and, thankfully, was not injured thanks to the other fighter's actions.

That final attack caused the monster to rapidly disintegrate into black particles, giving Ken a start. He shouldn't have been surprised, considering this was a monster and shouldn't exist in the first place, but he wasn't expecting it to simply... disappear. That's not how corpses were supposed to work. After the monster fully vanished, a young woman came up to the group and started to speak to them, and Ken listened from his position.

They were meant to kill these things regularly? Ken really didn't like the sound of that. Well... was he supposed to? Ken didn't know if he counted as one of the fighters that took out the monstrosity - his help was extremely minor, and he was nowhere near as offensively capable as they were. That immediately stopped being a concern as the strange woman continued to speak, however. Killing the monsters to protect people was already something that needed to be considered, but what motivated Ken to join this group of people was the promise of granting wishes. Normally, he'd be completely skeptical about something so outlandish... but he just saw a giant monster gets killed by a group of plucky young fighters and disappear into thin air.

Ken quickly remembered the girl's injuries, but before he could react, he noticed the sudden absence of his Invisible Hand. His powers were still there, just... weaker again. He might be able to squeeze out a heal, but he hoped the girl wouldn't need it since that would drain him quite a lot. Maybe they would be healed, like that man who was killed by the monster was? That would be the best-case scenario...

Ken considered not introducing himself to the group. After all, they probably would dismiss him for not helping them against the spined monster - the 'Razorback' according to the odd woman who spoke to them. The girl that warped the environment quickly spoke to the other fighters, giving Ken a very good idea. If she was homeless, then Ken could easily squeeze his way into the group by buying her some food or even just giving her the chocolate she asked for. He'd probably follow her once the others left unless someone else capitalized on the situation or tried talking to him before then.

Nori Hirai

^{Interactions: @IceHeart@medalliah}

Luckily for Nori, the creature was already pretty wounded and despite it still being able to fire a few spikes, nobody seemed to get hit by them. Since he was sure that if he started using his ink to redirect the spikes and keep moving it would make things worse for the others, Nori simply stood still, waiting for an opportunity to do something. Before Nori realized though, the creature was finally put down, thanks to a light beam attack made by one of the girls.

As Nori's ink streaks and his brush disappeared, he looked around, to be sure everyone was ok. Thankfully, it seemed like the creature was really defeated as the effects of it's presence and actions began to disappear. With the situation mostly under control, the strange girl that was leaning on a tree, just observing the fight since the start finally spoke something, congratulating the group for being able to deal with the creature.

"Indeed... It seems to be quite convenient..." Nori said, after the girl confirmed what he was already seeing with the terrain and most things going back the way they were before the creature appeared. The second part of her explanation though, was something that made Nori raise his eyebrows, thinking. According to her words, the longer a creature is alive, the higher is the probability of the damage it did to the 'reality' to become permanent. That meant that most of the times, defeating such creatures would be a race against the clock.

"This part can prove to be quite troublesome... You're saying then that when fighting against these creatures, it is always a race against the clock?" Nori asked, looking to the unknown girl as she finished explaining about the creatures and their effect on the reality.

It was then that the detective looking girl began talking before the strange unknown woman could reply him. Apparently, she was asking if someone could buy something for her to eat, before everyone went on their own way.

"Hm... I heard about a certain place that sells a very good sundae... But I'm not sure if I can finish it by myself... Would you care to help me with it?" Nori asked, turning to the girl with a calm and kind smile.

"I will make sure to tell the 'other you' that you certainly deserves it too." He said, waiting for the girl's reply.

---

_{Location: Angel City, Cherubim Park - October 25, Friday}

Event: First Meeting

The Entity's eyes twinkled in the darkness as it observed the others. A 'party' was about to form as it were and The Entity was sure to document the upcoming events. There was a bit of a problem however, certain members of the party hadn't dropped their magical forms yet which was a big no-no.

"Now you can't go running around town in those get-ups. You'll drain yourselves of magical energy that way, plus the less people see you the better. Just like those monsters the same rules now apply to you, if you end up using your powers for things other than combat you could cause permanent damage to your own reality. You should be able to change forms at will with practice, but just in case I'll go ahead and change them for you this time." The girl-like being emitted a pulse for a brief moment, which turned off the magic flow in each of their bodies. Those who were transformed returned to their normal selves.

"That's better, now about this Sundae..."

---

_{Location: Angel City, Heaven's Rest Cafe - October 25, Friday}

Event: First Meeting

The group had headed to a nearby cafe, the Heaven's Rest, to talk and get the young homeless girl something to eat. It was a clean and quaint little place, with white, antique furniture, plenty of lace, and old pictures of the town when it was just starting up. The overall effect was that of a fairly old fashioned home, complete with little wire sculptures fashioned by some local artist. The sculptures were quite varied, from bugs, to birds, and even angels. While the atmosphere was pleasant to the eye, it was the sweets that were the stars of the shop.

Behind the glass counter were cakes and baked sweets that could make a mouth water just by looking at them. Bright colors leapt out at customers with the various colored fruits that topped most of the sweets. Crystal clear and colored glaze could be seen, spread quite liberally over most of the tarts and other items, the owners knew how to make everything look quite enticing. Behind the counter was a chalkboard menu, listing the items and prices for sale, ranging from coffee to ice cream and more. The Entity could feel its mouth start to salivate despite not technically having a real human body.

_{"It's times like these I wish I were human too."} It muttered to itself, resisting the urge to place its face on the glass. While taking on a human form the body was as close to a human as it could get, even the senses could mimic a human's but it was not a perfect replica however so anything the body sensed would be somewhat duller than that of a normal human. In any event even if it did eat, the only way it could get food was by dubious means as it had no money. Sure it could make money but the money would disappear when it got too far away so it would just be a counterfeit and would be stealing from the business. Such action would be exactly the opposite of the thing it had just warned the humans not to do with their powers.

"Well, I'll probably only be able to stay a little bit longer before I have to leave. I suggest you enjoy yourselves for now, shouldn't be another incursion for a while anyway."

”You know, after all that we just went through, I could definitely go for some of this.” Liam could feel the saliva building in his mouth from the smell alone of the place. It didn’t take long for him to quickly step up to the counter to take a look at all that was there. Pastries and ice creams? It was a sweet tooth’s dream in here.

As he found himself looking, Liam sees that the strange girl, whom had showed up after beating the monster, was also gazing upon the food before them. It seemed she really wanted to feast upon what was in front of her, though it seemed she was muttering something to herself as she was. Maybe this strange person was broke?

Catching the attention of the employee behind the counter, Liam proceeded to give his order. ”Hello. I’d like to get 2 apple fritters. Oh and…” his eye glanced back over to the strange girl, speaking over at her. ”Hey. Looks like you want something over there, am I right? If so, pick something and I’ll get if for you this time.” After that ordeal, Liam was feeling pretty generous. And if this being was in part of why he had the powers he did to be able to fight back, he was certainly willing to offer this at least as a small thanks.

"No wait don't-" The magical girl tried to say, but it was too late. Where once stood a confident woman now stood a scraggly girl in very poor quality clothes



Emily blinked a few times as the world came back into being. Instead of having something left behind by the feeling, instead she was surrounded by a strange group of people. She looked at each one nervously, not sure what was going on, except they were now moving onto a cafe. Not sure if she was supposed to follow them or not, she stood there a few moments. Only when they looked back did she follow, looking down at the ground nervously. She could feel the eyes on her when they went into the cafe, and the murmurings about how she looked, and that she didn't belong.

There was cake though, and chocolate....she stared at the sweets on display, having no idea someone was buying something for her. It almost felt like a punishment, being dragged here with food on display.

---

_{Location: Angel City, Heaven's Rest Cafe - October 25, Friday}

Event: First Meeting

There was something different about about the little miss magical detective, and it wasn't the fact that she was obviously a lot poorer than any of the others. She seemed to be a completely different person from who she was before. "Could it be that her mind itself has fractured due to dimensional distortion? Or perhaps it is just completely psychological and the power fading caused her to revert to a timid mouse?" The Entity thought as she observed her.

Once a person had the ability to attune themselves to the monster's frequency, which gave them the powers to fight, usually the mind, being attuned, also was able to process everything that had happened even after everything was reset by a monster's destruction. In rare cases though, a human mind might not be able to process the information and reject it as soon as their body went back to normal, which created a separate personality between the magical and normal sides of person. Such individuals tended not to be able to function properly as a warrior and usually met a swift end to the monsters. Hopefully this was not the case for the beggar girl.


"Oh? You would be so generous? To realize what I wanted did you receive the power of mind reading as well?" The Entity joked, knowing that such a power was not one the young man had, plus the powers were deactivated for now anyway. "Well then I will not spurn your most wonderful offer! Then I will chooooose...that!" With a flourish it pointed at the brightest baked good that could be seen, a gigantic, cream-cheese and fruit topped tart about the size of a small cake. The tart was absolutely shiny with glaze all over it, keeping the fruit firmly in place on top. The Entity's eyes sparkled, quite literally for a second as she took in all the tart's glory.

While the Entity knew about currency, it didn't exactly take into account the amount of money a typical high school student might be willing to part with, or even have on hand; thankfully there was smaller sized tarts of the same kind nearby if he decided to wimp out.

Nori Hirai

The second the strange girl mentioned that they couldn't go walking around in their 'transformed' forms, Nori let out a smirk as he looked at his clothes.

"Oh, this? No, this is just my kimono." he said with a chuckle and a smile.

The rest of what the strange girl had said though was indeed a valuable information. The same rules that were applied to the monsters, were applied to them too due to their powers. The part about possible permanent damage to their own reality was definitely something Nori would want to avoid...

"I'm glad that you liked the idea! It's never a bad thing to just stop for a while and relax." Nori said with a kind smile, glad that not only the strange girl, but a few other members also seemed to like the idea.

---

After arriving on the Heaven's Rest, the group began asking for their orders and sitting down to relax or talk. Nori had heard about the place, but it was the first time he had entered it. It had quite a cozy and comfortable atmosphere giving the sensation almost of an old fashioned home. Overall, the type of place Nori wouldn't mind to spend some time relaxing.

As he gave a few steps towards the counter though, he watched the homeless girl, who was the 'other me' that the detective girl had told them about back when they had finished fighting the monster, looking at the display and the sweets within, nervously glancing around.

Luckily for her, the chains guy stopped in the middle of his order, saying that she could ask him what she wanted from the display.

"Don't worry too much about it. Just feel free to ask what you want. It's our treat." Nori said, approaching both of them and giving a friendly wink towards the girl, encouraging her before nodding towards the guy.

When the strange girl asked for a sweet too, Nori couldn't help but to chuckle at her honesty and straightforwardness. Even though she had asked quite an expensive dessert, it was clear that she was quite mesmerized by it as she looked at the cheese cake with sparkling eyes.

"You do have quite an expensive taste, don't you?" Nori said, teasing the strange girl with a thoughtful expression, while giving a discreet wink to the guy near them. He was already going to buy one for the homeless girl, so Nori could get one to the strange girl. Otherwise his generosity would end up being quite expensive for him.

"But... It is a 'special' occasion, isn't it? As long as you are willing to share it with me, I can buy it for you." Nori said, smiling before he went to the counter and asked the very cake the girl had asked for.

"I'm Nori Hirai by the way. Feel free to call me just Nori." He said, looking to the group as he finished paying for his order.

Ken had successfully managed to integrate himself into the group... or, at the very least, he's managed to sit with them at the cafe they had moved to. He still didn't know any of their names, but then again, it didn't matter too much. Ken wanted to keep his interactions with these monsters as limited as possible, and that was most easily accomplished by being just familiar with these monster hunters, rather than helping them save the city.

At least, that's what Ken told himself. Whether or not he would do something to defend people from these monsters was another thing entirely. The girl that spoke oddly and addressed the group had reverted them to their original forms with no struggle, and while Ken felt he barely spent any of this... 'energy' that she talked about, he hadn't felt any real offensive capabilities like the other hunters. Did Ken really need to be so close to these monsters if he had no way of protecting himself?

Ken stopped thinking about that line of thought, instead of thinking about the girl who led them to the cafe. She claimed she wasn't human, and while Ken normally would have dismissed her as some teenager trying to seem cool in some weird way, the large monster that the group had defeated shattered any pretenses that Ken held about the world. Hell, he had superpowers - the weird girl could be a fairy for all Ken knew.

One of the boys, the one who had been controlling the odd chain earlier was buying food for the odd girl, as well as the girl who had asked for food at the end of the last fight. That was nice of him - Ken was glad that he wouldn't have to be the one to buy the homeless girl's food, considering he now had time to think things through and realize his status with the group. If he really wanted to join - something that could seriously injure him - then all he had to do was demonstrate his powers. He hadn't seen any of the other warriors use healing abilities, although the one girl who got injured was healed by the time she reverted to her normal form.

Ken didn't order anything for himself - he hated eating out, and only followed the group to the cafe in order to get more acquainted with them. If he was going to spend money, he preferred to spend it on something that would be useful to him for at least a week or two. For food, he could just get some from his parents while he was still young.

While drinking some water from the thermos that he always had with him, Ken noticed one of the warriors introduce themselves. The one who had the paintbrush was called Nori Hirai. At least Ken finally had a name to ascribe to the paintrbush warrior. Ken chose to remain silent for the rest of the time at the cafe, not wishing to try and force himself into the group since he provided only superficial aid to the first battle. He could integrate himself next time a monster attacked, or if one of the other members initiated the conversation with him.

Despite the whispers around her, she had been addressed as one of the group. That calmed her down a little, and she said "I would be fine with just the..." she pointed at the chocolate gateau slice. She hadn't had that in so long. "But you don't have to do it for me. I don't know why you're" she started, then stopped. Looking at each one, before stopping on the strange girl. She knew she had seen her before.

"Did she ask you to do this for me. The...the Feeling? I said I liked chocolate, but I didn't expect all of this. I'm Emily. I can't pay you back for the cake. I have no money."

---

_{Location: Angel City, Heaven's Rest Cafe - October 25, Friday}

Event: First Meeting

Entity-chan's eyes twinkled as paintbrush guy, aka Nori Hirai, decided to gallantly pay for the treat with the stipulation of sharing it with him. "Why thank you Nori Hirai! I'll be sure to enjoy every bite!" Her eyes devoured the delicacy as it transferred hands. Meanwhile Liam got what Emily wanted and soon the group found themselves sitting around a table, Entity-chan wasted no time in splitting the expensive treat, not quite in half as the part Entity took was just slightly bigger, but very close nonetheless.

Entity's fork dove into the soft treat and soon the first bite entered Entity's mouth. The sweetness, the fruit, the tang, it all combined into a delectable explosion of taste, strong enough even for Entity-chan's imitation taste buds. A hand went up to her cheek in delight as the wonderful sensation of delicious food assaulted her senses. "Mmmh! Sooo Good!" Colored filled her cheeks as she indulged in the sensation.

"Well then, as much as I would love to interact and observe for hours on end I suppose I should apologize for getting you all involved." Entity-chan stopped eating for a bit and lowered her head down toward the table, but not low enough to squash her cake. "After all I could have easily not activated your magical abilities and you would have lived your lives none the wiser, never knowing the damage the monsters can cause. At the moment however, you all are the most attuned to their dimension and so it was quite easy to tweak out your abilities. That is part of the reason of course I'll be able to help your wishes come true after you have fought long enough." Entity-chan stayed bowed for a little bit longer before finally sitting upright again and gazed at each member for a few moments.

"As perhaps you might have guessed by now, a lot of unexplained accidents in the news can actually be traced back to monster activity. While it is yet impossible for a monster to stay in your world for very long, the more often a particular monster appears, the more likely their damage will translate over into real world effects. Mysterious car wrecks, gas explosions, missing persons, and the like are just a few of the consequences that can happen when a monster is left alone for too long. Thankfully the rate of appearance is not that high yet, but I have a feeling it will become more frequent rather quickly." The info dump given, Entity-chan returned to devouring her treat and making cute noises of satisfaction. Before long her plate was empty and her countenance turned a bit sour.

"That was a delightful experience, thank you for indulging me. I would say the next monster will come in about a month or so, so until then enjoy your lives!" With a start, she leaped up on the chair like a complete nut and raised a hand to the sky to gather attention. "Well then I must bid you all adieu for now, Ta Ta!" With a wave and a smile, Entity-chan's body glowed white, turned into a small white particle and flew away through the ceiling.

At first the owner was surprised by the site but as soon as she was completely gone, the look of shock vanished and they returned completely to normal, the memory of the girl vanishing completely from everyone's memory but the new young warriors around the table.

Nori Hirai

Truth be told, even though Nori wasn't really used in having that many people nearby, seeing as mostly always he was just lazing around by himself, it was still really pleasant, seeing how everyone was just enjoying themselves and happily eating sweets. Even though they had just defeated a monster...

"Please, don't worry about it, Emily." Nori said as the homeless girl introduced herself, voicing her worries about not being able to pay back for the cake.

"Just think about it as your payment for your help, ok?" he said, looking to the girl with a kind expression before he looked at the strange girl once more.

Honestly, Nori never saw someone so focused in eating something before nor he saw someone who looked so happy as the girl was right now as she proceeded to devour the large dessert she asked for. He couldn't help but chuckle as he saw the girl eating and enjoying it so much.

The next words that came out of her mouth were surprising though. As she continued eating, she paused in between bites to apologize for dragging all them into fighting with the monster, indicating that she indeed had, not only the power to take them to where the monster was, but she was, in fact, the source of their strange powers. Apparently, she was far from being just an ordinary girl.

Before they could say anything though, she was gone just as suddenly as she appeared, but not first without leaving them with some very impactful words. They had one month until the next monster arrived. One month to rest or to prepare themselves.

"Well... That was something... One month huh..." Nori said to himself, reflecting upon the girl's words.

---

_{Location: Angel City - November 26, Thursday}

Event: Pre-Thanksgiving Day Parade

A month had passed already since the new warriors had met their fellow fighters. Cooler days had settled in as Fall was giving away to winter, but the city was more energized than ever as it prepared for an event people from all over looked forward to every year, the Thanksgiving Day Parade. If there was one thing the people of Angel City were full of, it was hope and thankfulness for everything they had been given.

In many cities, Thanksgiving was mostly just a day to get together with friends and family and to have a feast, but in Angel City it was quite the serious holiday. Halloween was fun but mostly reserved just for the little kids, Thanksgiving was the other holiday, besides Christmas, that really got the town into a flurry of activity. Models of the Mayflower were on display in shop windows, decorative turkeys, Pilgrims and Indians, and wreaths of fall leaves and large cornucopias were set on people's porches and front doors. The miraculous story of the Pilgrims was deeply ingrained in the culture of the town.

While the world could enjoy watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Angel City put on its own parade every year without fail. Floats, balloons, bands, and local schools were all encouraged to be part of the parade even though the students were on Thanksgiving Vacation. Seraphim High always made sure to encourage as many of its clubs as possible to participate in the festivities in one way or the other. Some clubs joined the parade such as the band club, others set up their own stands along the parade route to make some cash, while others created decorations or even volunteered to help with clean up. Thanksgiving was truly a time for the entire city to come together as one, even for just a few hours. The city was also proud to host Thanksgiving dinners for anyway who needed, not a soul could go hungry at Thanksgiving time in Angel City unless they chose not to participate.

The streets for the parade were already being cleared and blocked off for the parade in the afternoon. Stores and businesses closed down but the streets were busy as everyone hustled around to secure good viewing spots and to help make this year's Thanksgiving just as special as the last. Already quite a few people were dressed up like Settlers and Native Americans as they got into the Thanksgiving spirit.

The parade would happen in the afternoon and in the evening, everyone in the city would join up in various locations for the Thanksgiving Feast. It really was a sight quite different from anywhere else in the States.

Ahh. Thanksgivings Day. It’s that time again already, eh?

Liam finds himself once more out of the house, taking the time to casually stroll through the streets, seeing what’s going on. Maybe find some special thanksgivings day deals at the stores. Well, those that kept themselves open that day at least. He watched as several people passed by with various decorations, putting the finishing touches for the parade coming later that day no doubt.

While the parade was certainly quite the spectacle every year, Liam had found himself a bit solemn about it since the passing of his family. Hard to find yourself in a thankful attitude when that thought crosses his mind. This was probably his first time since then that he even went out on Thanksgiving.

Flashes of memories from his younger self popped up as he looked around. The one where he stood between his parents, his little self holding there hands and shaking in glee as he watched the colorful floats pass by. Such good memories they were…

Liam shakes his head a little, pulling himself out of his sad reminiscing. A small, bitter smile comes to him as he sighs. Keep it together Liam… You’ll get through this.

Parades were a rare time when people would be more generous to those who were suffering and homeless. Unless they were trying to make it obvious they were doing so, in which case it was a more painful time filled with abuse. Emily, thankfully, wasn't the begging type. With her new friends (or at least friends of the other her that also accepted her) that did little things to help her, she could at least not be homeless all the time.

Still, today felt different. She felt odd, like there was an itch she couldn't scratch. She pulled her yellow coat around her tighter, and moved through the crowd, looking around her. Eventually, she caught sight of someone she knew, and gravitated towards Liam (@Spectral) but didn't directly approach. He was normal after all, and even if she'd been able to have a shower and get something newish to wear she was still a homeless girl, and didn't want to make it look like she was harassing someone. Her kind often got arrested for that....usually on purpose to have a bed for the night, but Emily didn't want to do that.

As Liam continues on his Thanksgiving Day wondering around the city, he finds himself stopping for a moment. Ahead of him, he sees a familiar yellow coat that he had seen back during that time. Sure enough, as he once more begins to move forward that he can make out the form of the girl Emily (@medalliah) within its hood. He debated for a moment if he should just continue on, but decided against that. Liam was trying to break out of his long loner rut he’s been stuck in this last several years. Avoiding social interaction wasn’t going to help him with that. As such, he finds himself taking a breath, before shifting himself towards her as he walks.

With a raise of his hand, he calls out to her. “Hello there Emily…It’s been a bit since we last met, hasn’t it?” He gives a lazy going smile. ”You by chance going around and taking in the festivities too?”

Emily hadn't expected the boy to approach him! She straightened up a little, taking a few moments before answering.

"Liam" she said quietly to herself, before smiling.

"Hi um...Liam. Yeah, been a long while" she looked around a few times before talking again "um well, not a long long time. But like a few weeks? I'm not doing anything wrong, I promise. Festivals are kind of... nice for everyone, and well for people like me someone might be kind enough to...you know. Buy me some food."

She kept looking around every minute or so. Sometimes even with a frown.

"How...are you? Do you um...like festivals?"

@Spectral