@medalliah@Spectral

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

Event: Pre-Thanksgiving Day Parade

Humans were a unique bunch to be sure. Here they were milling about in costumes, baking a variety of treats, and preparing together a parade to go through the city streets. Why did humans go through all the extra trouble? Because they wanted to remind themselves of their past. Apparently the best way to go about it was to make everything as bright and colorful as possible, with the exception of the pilgrim costumes which tended to be rather drab.

Not one to miss out on such interesting festivities, the Entity had decided to dress up for the occasion. It certainly made for a striking Native American though on closer inspection that the Entity's version had a bit more of a, Central American style than most of the others who had the North American style down pat. Frankly, it looked a bit like a colorful rooster as a pair of golden eyes took in all the sights, sounds, and smells.

Thankfully, as it was Thanksgiving people were unusually generous, which meant free samples. Course the good stuff one still needed money but at least they were able to get a taste of what was out there. At the moment, they had a small cup full of candy corn and pretzels it has been given at one of the newly erected stands. They popped a candy corn piece in their mouth and let the sweet flavor assault their senses.

"Ohhh, not bad, not bad, though I have heard too much can be detrimental to a human's health." The Entity shrugged and popped another inside, it appeared many people were heading for the side streets where various booths where people sold trinkets and other items for the crowd's pleasure. As they looked around, it noticed two of the new warriors had already joined the fun.

"Hey, hey! How's it going!?" The Entity waved, completely forgetting that it looked quite a bit different from when it had first showed up. It made its way over toward them in its new threads, weaving its way through the people.

Nori Hirai

^{@medalliah@Spectral@IceHeart}

---

Nori was never the type to like crowds that much but festivals and big holidays were exceptions. The festive atmosphere was always pleasing, many people took the day off and even if for a single day, they forgot about all their worries, about work and simply enjoyed the town. For a moment, life slowed down from it's usual chaos and people found time to be kind, to smile.

Nori had already been stopped by a number of people as he walked through the streets, some admiring the unique and beautiful design, some asking for pictures but it was indeed quite good to see people interested on his art, even though it was only his kimono.

Surprisingly enough, as he walked, he saw someone with clothes as colorful and striking as his own. When he approached it though, he was surprised to notice that the girl with the flashing attire, a colorful native outfit, was speaking with no one other than Liam and Emily, two whom Nori had already met before, when fighting against the creature.

"Your acquaintance? Quite the beautiful and interesting outfit!" Nori said, waving towards Liam and Emily as he approached them and the strange girl.

"Hey Liam, Emily. Quite some time since our last meeting. Fortunately, this time we met in better circumstances." Nori said with a smile as he greeted Liam and Emily.

@medalliah@Spectral@13org

---

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

Event: Thanksgiving Day Parade Begins

Entity-chan's eyes lit up as she recognized the brush wielder. While his abilities were interesting, the real reason she remembered was because he had been the one to treat her to that marvelous desert. Anyone willing to treat Entity was ranked a little bit higher in its book.

"Thank you for the treat the other day! Hmmm, about a month now? I suppose for you that might be quite a while." The Entity pondered while tapping its chin with an index finger. Her eyes rolled up a bit in thought but then she noticed that none of them seemed to recognize her.

"Oh right silly me, you humans rely quite heavily on visual stimulation to recognize things. I could change into that form I took but that would be a no-no considering where we are so you'll just have to get used to my new look! I'm the umm...person who informed you for the current situation of things." Entity-chan gave a little twirl and wink for good measure, just because.

"I would ask you to treat me again, but I believe in this city there are quite a few, Thanksgiving Feasts that happen after the so-called, Thanksgiving Parade, which is open to the public so I fully intend to stuff my face then! If I'm not mistaken, that Parade should be beginning shortly." As if on cue, several speakers that had been set up around the festivities areas started blaring an announcement.

"THE ANNUAL ANGEL CITY THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE WILL BE START IN JUST A MOMENT! PLEASE VACATE THE PARADE ROUTE AND ENJOY!"

Thankfully, the route was very clearly marked and almost no one was in it, expect for a few people who wanted to quickly get to the other side of the road. Soon cheers erupted from the Parade's starting grounds as the groups and floats started making their way down.

The first things to appear were native american and pilgrim dancers, prancing around in unison and perfectly coordinated in pilgrim, native pairs. A few turkey costumes also flittered about, happy that they were not the ones used for Thanksgiving dinner. Next was a band that was letting out some rousing tunes, followed by several floats. The floats ranged from patriotic, to historic, from religious, to secular, almost anything that people had to be thankful for was represented in the Parade.

"The city really knows how to put on a good spectacle!"

---

"Well here goes nothing!" Emily said trying to psyche herself up for her upcoming performance. Putting on a brave face, she took her first steps as the Seraphim High School gymnastics team took to their stage. In order to make sure they could pull off their stunts, the team was on a moving float, of course being on a moving stage was a lot more dangerous than a usual performance so a lot of their more daring tricks were forbidden. The only other friend of Emily's on the team was Denise, while Akari was in woodwinds and Katherine was part of the tennis club.

There were only about eight allowed on the float at a time to make sure there was enough room and of course because of safety concerns. Emily and Denise put on their best smiles as they started their routine. The routine was kept simple, since they would be at it for a while, but there were plenty of flips and cartwheels involved. It wouldn't be their best work but it was impressive considering where they were doing it.

Emily just hoped she had the stamina to keep it up till the end. She started to notice a strange ticking sound, but she really couldn't tell where it was coming from. Well in a way it was helpful for keeping her rhythm so she just put it in the back of her mind as she did her routine.

@medalliah

Liam raises a brow, slightly confused as to why she had to say she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Did she think he was coming over to scold her for something? She didn’t really give off the vibe of being someone to cause trouble, though she did always seem a bit down even back after the incident.

“I’m doing fine. Truth be told, this is the first festival I’ve come to since…” he hesitates for a moment, the sad memory of the incident flashed through his mind.“Years ago. A-anyway, you mentioned you’re trying to get some food? If you want, I can grab something for you then. Anything in particular you were looking at?”

@IceHeart

A voice yelling out catches his attention. His gaze turning from Emily, Liam scans the crowd. It wasn’t long before the sight of a rather festive girl weaving through the crowd towards them. “Uh, good?” He blinks as the festive girl stops beside them. Before he can get a moment to figure out whom it is, another familiar face makes their presence known.

@13org

“Ahh, if it isn’t Nori. Indeed, these are certainly much better circumstances to meet.” Liam gives a grin as he says that to him.

He then returns his attention to girl, as she indicates that she is indeed the mysterious girl from before that informed them about what was going on after the incident. “Ah, that certainly explains why I was confused about who exactly you were,”he rubs the back of his head apologetically.

With the announcement of the parade starting, Liam will make way off the path, keeping himself with Emily and the others.

@Spectral@13org@medalliah

---

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

Event: Monster Phase Start

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The crowd watched as the parade went by, the festive mood permeated the air with joy. Kids smiled and adults too, everyone was snacking, talking, and just in general enjoying the wonderful day. Emily and Denise started another routine with their team as their float started to get near to where the new warriors were located.

"Hey Emily, have you been hearing that sound? I can't tell where it's coming from." Denise asked as she bounced off of Emily's hands to do a backflip, to which Emily responded in kind.

"You've been hearing it too? It's been getting louder, at least it's consistent like a metronome so it hasn't messed us up but it is kind of annoying."

"Ya I swear if that think keeps getting louder I'm gonna throw a fit...was there a float like that?" Denise nodded to behind them where a giant clock, thing stood. The second hand on its face clicked and suddenly, it was easy to tell where the sound was coming from.



Where in the world had it come from? Emily didn't remember any floats that looked so, creepy. Also it didn't appear to have any wheels which shouldn't be possible for something that big to move.



"Oh No you DON'T!" Shouted a girl who erupted from the crowd wielding a large, flaming sword. By the next Tick, the hook met metal as the hook and sword clashed against each other. Sparks erupted and scattered into the air, bathing the nearby floats and paraders in their glow as Aria stood her ground against the large mechanical monstrosity, her feet firmly planted on the gymnastic team's float. "I won't let you hurt them!"

"What is that!?" One of my gymnasts screamed as one of the sparks stung her. Quickly panic set in and the gymnastics quickly fled for their lives from the battle zone, abandoning their stage. Confused onlookers at first didn't know what was going on, but quickly they realized it was not just for show and soon, the crowds became stampedes to get away form the area. Utter Chaos loomed in the streets as people fled and the sound of the ticking clock echoed in their ears.

Aria amazingly stood her ground against the much larger monster, her magically enhanced muscles giving her the strength to push back against its weight. The runes on the hook started to glow neon green and a strange hum could be heard. Aria braced herself for increased pressure from the monster, but instead her flames burned out and her sword turned to ash. A final Tock could be heard as her sword withered away, and the hook smashed into her, ramming her down through the float and splitting it in two.

Aria crawled out of the wreckage, her body mangled from the impact and blood stained her clothes. The monster stared with its clock face, expressionless and mechanical. She tried to get up, but her body was unable to even do that and she collapsed to the ground, hand reaching for the sky in desperation.

"No, I finally had the chance to see her again...Marigold..." She spoke the name of her sister that she wanted to see, one last time, before she was crushed by the weight of the hook as ClockWork struck again.

The warrior Aria Phoenis, was no more.

---

The Entity stared at the chaos without flinching, it was too bad, she had wanted to experience more of the festival before the monster arrived; hopefully they would be able to stop it and save the festival before it was too late. "They always pick the worst times to appear. Ahhh, too bad."

Despite the horror they had just witnessed the Entity's appeared completely unfazed and detached from the carnage. It was actually a bit eerie and a perfect reminded that despite appearances, it was not human.

Nori Hirai

^{@medalliah@Spectral@IceHeart}

---

Nori was a bit confused at first when the girl who was talking with Liam and Emily talked with him like she already knew him. The moment she thanked for a 'treat' Nori only became even more confused. He would certainly remember if he had met such an... exotic person before. The only other person he met that could be described with that word though was the strange girl that appeared when they were fighting against a monster... As he thought about it a bit better, he realized that, strangely enough, that the ice cream he gave the strange girl was exactly a month ago, just like she said now. When she confirmed she was the same person and even mentioned 'changing' back to that form though, Nori was visibly surprised. Even though Nori was meeting her for the second time, he only had even more questions about who really was that girl.

"Still an avid appreciator of food, I see." Nori said, laughing as the girl mentioned that she was planning to stuff herself after the parade.

"Our meeting is quite a coincidence though. As much as it was back then, isn't it?" Nori said with a smirk as Liam greeted him.

"I can't help but think that our mysterious friend might have something to do with it. Maybe it's her stomach that calls for us?" he said, teasing the girl as he gave a small laugh.

As the parade began, the group moved themselves to a good location to watch it and appreciate the band, the dancers and the cultural displays.

"Indeed, it is quite a spectacle. At least for one day, people take a break from their rushed lives to simply enjoy food, company and the parade." Nori said, with a smile, as he heard the girl.

Among the performers though, Nori saw a face that he could recognize. Together with the Seraphim High School gymnastics team, he saw Emily as one of the students who would perform.

The parade was truly entertaining and beautiful but on the background, Nori couldn't help but keep hearing a strange noise that was annoying him quite a bit. Something that was similar to the ticking of a clock... When the sound began getting higher, people finally started complaining, indicating that it wasn't only just something Nori was hearing.

"I've been hearing it for a while but I thought it was just me..." Nori commented as he heard other people talking about it.

In the blink of an eye, the panic began, interrupting the parade as a giant hook clashed with a strangely familiar flaming sword. After a moment analyzing the situation, Nori realized that the one with the flaming sword was Aria and the owner of the strange runed hook was no one other than another one of those strange monsters. Despite the obvious size difference, Aria still held her own against the creature, preventing it from causing more damage or harm to the others nearby. Unfortunately, the moment the strange runes began glowing, her sword almost immediately turned into ash, being struck by it and breaking one of the floats in half.

Before he could do anything though, the clockwork creature attacked once more. Unable to defend herself, Aria was struck once again by the giant hook just as she had managed to get out of the wreckage, already wounded from the previous attack. With a terrible sound, the giant hook crushed Aria, killing her.

Nori was a bit shocked by the situation that had just happened but he knew the dangers of fighting against such creatures and he was prepared for it. That said, it was still hard to be unfazed after seeing someone you know 'dying' like what had just happened. The entity though, seemed to be completely unfazed and almost like if she was annoyed that the parade was interrupted, showing no reaction seeing Aria dying like that.

"Indeed... They do have a terrible timing..." Nori said with a note of anger in his voice as he agreed with the entity and conjured his brush and did a circular movement, sending a streak of ink towards the creature as he jumped around the floats, dashing through them as he circled the creature.

It’s quite astounding just how fast things can change. One minute, Liam was having a pleasant time alongside some of those he met a few weeks ago as the parade went down the street. Then a strange ticking sound started to grow louder and louder amongst the parade. It all became clear once Liam’s eyes caught sight of the large mechanical beast behind one of the floats. Before he could even fully process its sudden appearance, he saw another one of those he had fought beside engaging the beast, her flames arching with her blades swings. He watched as her attacks seemed to have little, being knocked down with the creatures large hook like weapon.

His heart sank when the beast crushed her with its last blow. It’s never easy to see someone you know die. Even worse when it happened before one's very eyes.

“We can’t let it claim anyone else,” Liam adds after Nori, his chain fouling out of his arms as he draws upon his power. Immediately they shot forth, chains latching onto light posts and anything else they can, as Liam flies around the street, observing the creature while also checking around in case of stragglers still in the area.