Happy birthday to me! XD Hope you enjoy this little GMAD oneshot I whipped up for the occasion, as well as the other stories I updated!
Phoenix was always an early riser, but the same couldn't be said for today. There had been a late-night mission that Night had called her on last-minute the night before, and now all she wanted to do was to snuggle under the warmth of her blankets for a little while longer. Apparently someone had other plans.
"Hey Phoenix! Get up! Get up, get up, get up!" Insistent knocking pounded away at the door, and Phoenix groaned at the loss of any sleepiness that had lingered. Great, now she couldn't get back to sleep. Good job whoever was knocking, happy now?!
The pale redhead pulled herself up into a sitting position on her bed and stretched her arms out, yawning. She grabbed one of her crossed knees and pushed the top half of her body the opposite way, cracking her back, then repeated the process with her other side. Phoenix got up from bed - unfortunately - and made her way over to the door, where the oh-so-annoying knocking had resumed. "Phoenix! Wake up!"
"I'm awake, now what's so important that you had to get me up early for?" The door was opened to reveal a smiling 3P and a bouncing, grinning Lantern; the latter of which had been knocking.
3P glanced down at the watch on her wrist and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by early? It's only 6am. You're normally up half an hour before now."
"I bet she was already awake anyway and is just annoyed that we disturbed her and stopped any chance of more sleep she may have had." 3P and Phoenix blinked owlishly at Lantern, who shrugged. "I know you."
"Be that as it may," Phoenix recovered, "why did you disturb me?"
"Because we have a whole day planned and you need to get out of bed to do it, Nix!" 3P chided as if talking to a five year old. Phoenix glared at her, golden-red haired ponytail flickering slightly.
Lantern pushed her back inside the room. "Go get ready! We'll be waiting out here for you!"
Rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, Phoenix complied. She let her long hair down from the ponytail she'd worn to bed (it reduced the number of knots) and brushed it out, getting out the knots in a few minutes. She retied it into her signature high ponytail, leaving two locks of hair to frame her face.
Phoenix walked over to her set of drawers and dug through the clothes, looking for an outfit. Tossing out a few clothes, she finally found something to wear.
When the lavender eye'd teenager exited her room, she was wearing a plain white t-shirt under an unbuttoned, red flannel jacket, long, very dark blue bellbottom jeans, worn black hiking boots and her gold Baby-G watch. "I'm ready for whatever you're gonna throw at me."
"Nice outfit." 3P complimented.
Phoenix nodded, "Thanks, it's one of my favourites."
"Let's go!" Lantern grabbed Phoenix's arm and dragged her along behind her, 3P hurrying to catch up.
All three teens arrived in the empty dining hall of the GMAD castle. Phoenix had (somehow) gotten Lantern to let go of her arm earlier, and now she crossed said limbs. "I don't suppose breakfast is a part of today's so-called plan, is it?" A beat. "And where is everyone? There should be some people in here by now."
"Both good questions, but we're only gonna answer the first one: yes." 3P and Lantern lead Phoenix over to a table set for three, complete with cloches to keep their food warm. 3P directed Phoenix to sit in the middle seat, while she sat on the left and Lantern sat on the right.
"Lift up the cloches to reveal the plates!" Lantern exclaimed, sporting a large grin. Phoenix raised an eyebrow in question, but remained quiet. Lantern, 3P and Phoenix each lifted the metal cloches to reveal the food on the plates. Lantern had a plate of French toast with butter and syrup, 3P had a plate of frikandel and Phoenix had a plate of pancakes with butter and syrup, bacon and hashbrowns. Everyone had an empty glass in front of them.
3P pointed at the cups, "Just say what drink you want and it'll fill up with said drink, then dig in!"
"I know how these work 3P." Phoenix said, amused. She turned to her cup and announced, "Mango smoothie." As stated, the glass filled with mango smoothie and Phoenix dug into her meal. The three friends talked and laughed for the rest of the meal, content.
When they were finished, 3P and Lantern immediately stood and started walking away. Phoenix gestured to the dirty kitchenware left behind in confusion. "Shouldn't we...?"
"Don't worry about it." Lantern brushed off the pyrokinetic's worries.
When Phoenix still didn't look convinced 3P assured, "We have it covered. Now come on, there's more planned for today."
With growing mystification and suspicion, Phoenix followed.
As soon as the three teens had walked out of earshot a bunch of people flowed into the room. Well, people may have been putting it a bit lightly: there were several hybrids among the mix as well as a lot of dragons.
"They're gone." A black-haired boy with noticeable purple roots wearing a red cloak informed the room at large, closing the door he had cracked open.
A girl with wavy brown hair in a ponytail and black glasses over her brown eyes stepped forward. "Good. Now, we need to move quickly, got it? You all remember your assignments?"
"Yes, Night," chorused the rest of the gathered crowd.
Night nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Let's get to it, everyone!" The rest of GMAD (and companions) scurried off every which way, eager to complete their tasks. Night pulled a clipboard out of nowhere and started walking amongst everyone, observing and directing the preparations.
"A best trick competition!" Lantern announced. The three of them were standing next to their dragons: Phoenix with her Night Fury Violetstorm, 3P with her Night Fury Kozmotis and Lantern with her Monstrous Nightmare Inferno.
"Sounds fun," Phoenix agreed, "But seriously, where is everyone?" she motioned to the empty skies around them. There wasn't even a dragon flying around, tame or otherwise.
Lantern looked at 3P, who was determinedly staring at Kozmotis. "Uh...they were all sent on missions I think. Some sort of situation popped up or something." Lantern answered a little too quickly. Phoenix narrowed her eyes but didn't press the issue.
"Who's first?" she asked instead.
3P jumped onto Kozmotis' back and urged him to the edge of the cliff they were on. "I'll go." She placed her hand on Kozmotis' head and he turned his neck to look back at her. 3P nodded at him and Kozmotis moved his head back to facing forwards, rolling it a little to loosen the muscles. He narrowed his yellow eyes.
"Let's go!" 3P urged, and Kozmotis leapt off the cliff without any hesitation, flaring his wings to catch the air to glide smoothly. It only lasted a moment, before he tucked in his wings and they plummeted towards the ocean together. Kozmotis pulled out of the dive a split second before they would have hit the water, letting his tail skim across the top of the water. 3P leant forwards and put her hands out on either side of the Night Fury she was riding to skim the top of the waves with her fingers herself.
The two pulled away from the water and rose higher into the air, heading towards a bunch of sea stacks. They dodged through, using various techniques such as flying sideways, tucking into a small missile-like shape, and even ducking underwater to dodge low hanging pieces of rock.
They got to the very edge of the sea stacks after having dodged most already and we're now faced with only two. Kozmotis charged a plasma blast in his mouth and fired at the thin base of one of the sea stacks. The explosion had the desired effect and made it start to fall rapidly towards the second sea stack.
The dragon and rider sped up, determined. They managed to duck under the giant mound of rock, the Night Furies' tail snaking through just as it smashed into the second sea stack. 3P and Kozmotis soared higher again and glided a half-loop, now heading back the way they had first come from - upside down. They stayed upside down for a while until the blood rushing to 3P's head started giving her a headache. She nudged Kozmotis who stuck out a wing which turned them right side up from the wind force.
Human and dragon landed together on the cliff, and 3P slid off Kozmotis' back, rubbing at her temples to try and stop a headache from properly forming. This was rendered void when Phoenix and Lantern started cheering oh-so-loudly for her.
"Good job, 3P! You've finally managed to perfect the upside down flying! Good job to you, too, Kozmotis!" Phoenix complimented, clapping.
"Yeah, great work!" Lantern agreed, "But you'd better watch out, I'm next!"
Without another word Lantern and Inferno rocketed skywards, heading straight up. Just as the top of Lantern's head brushed against the clouds they shot down in a diagonal line like a bullet. Inferno brushed against the sea with his talons when he pulled up and levelled out, Lantern hollering in joy and excitement. They only glided a few seconds before flying up and into a loop, shooting into the ocean. The Monstrous Nightmare and his rider darted back out almost instantly.
They started flying in a smooth, calm line in front of 3P and Phoenix. Lantern stood up and grabbed Inferno's horns more tightly than before, bracing herself before pushing her feet off the Nightmare's neck and all her weight into her hands, successfully doing a handstand on Inferno's horns.
Impressive, thought Phoenix.
Said dragon erupted into flame as soon as Lantern was steady, turning the remaining water on both of them to steam. He let the flames die down but instead of Lantern tipping back into her previous position her legs started falling further towards the ends of the horns. She quickly wrapped her legs around the black horns and, when sure it was safe, Lantern let go with her hands and dangled from Inferno's horns by her legs.
They hung like that, Inferno scared that he might knock off his rider if he made any sudden or unnecessary movements. Unfortunately his plan was ruined when a large gust of wind blew through the air and sent him back a bit. The movement unhooked Lantern's legs, who widened her eyes. Fortunately, before she fell Inferno managed to throw his head up to fling her into the air and caught her by the back of the jacket with his teeth, flying back to the sea stack 3P and Phoenix were on.
"You okay?" 3P asked in concern.
Lantern straightened up from where she'd been dumped unceremoniously on the ground by her dragon. "I totally meant to do that."
"Suuuure," Phoenix drawled sarcastically: Lantern was fine. "Guess it's my turn then. Ready Violetstorm?" The lavender-eyed Night Fury nodded excitedly and grinned deviously at the small challenge in Phoenix's voice. It was almost as if the redhead was trying to goad her into backing down, but Violetstorm was having none of it.
"I could beat those other two dragons with both wings tied behind my back!" She chuffed, causing Phoenix to smirk.
She skilfully vaulted onto Violetstorm's back and leant closer to her ear flaps to whisper, "That's the spirit. Now let's show these suckers how it's done!"
With that inspiring notion, they leapt into the air and with only a few flaps of Violetstorm's large wings, they were soaring through the open sky. They started flying up towards the clouds, ascending as if the Red Death was chasing them. When the pair broke through the cloud cover they were surrounded by the bright, clear morning sunlight, still with a few pink and orange remnants of the sunrise lingering in the sky. Phoenix and Violetstorm hovered just above the clouds before letting themselves drop back down like stones.
Phoenix pushed herself off of Violetstorm's back and gently rotated the dragon so that they were facing each other. Sharing a smile, they closed their eyes and let the feeling of the gusting wind encompass them. It was so nice to fly!
It wasn't until the ocean was about a dozen feet below them and they could clearly see their friends on the cliff that Phoenix twirled through the air towards Violetstorm's back and hopped back on. The Night Fury pulled up just in time with enough force that the ocean approximately a foot below them curved around the path of their flight, creating a wave.
The Night Fury and her rider shot back up, higher in the air. Flying steadily, but picking up a little speed, Violetstorm's rider stood on her feet, careful not to fall off the ebony dragon's back. The redhead walked down the dragon's body until she got to the edge of the tail. Cautiously, she edged a little further down, before facing back to the front. Phoenix stuck her hands up and rocked on her feet in preparation for her trick. She cartwheeled along Violetstorm's back, stopping where she originally stood and sat back down.
They swerved to the side to face their friends, and with a flourish they entered a barrel roll. Violetstorm shot plasma blast after plasma blast, hitting the cliff face below each individual on the rock. She didn't hit them with her well-placed plasma blasts, but the hot air and ash that blasted up from the explosions gave 3P and Lantern sooty faces and blown-back hair. Kozmotis and Inferno received a little ash to the face each, but they just shook it off.
A triumphant cry from Phoenix was the only warning they had before she and Violetstorm entered a spiral loop and landed back on the rocky perch.
3P coughed some ash out of her mouth. "Great job, I especially loved the part where you covered us with ash." She said sarcastically.
"Yeah, and how you messed up our hair with you fire blasts. Just fantastic!" Lantern continued the streak of sarcasm.
Their sarcasm wasn't lost on her, but Phoenix, wanting to annoy them both even more, smirked and replied, "That's what I'm here for."
"Anyway, who won? And how are we supposed to figure it out?" Lantern asked, changing the topic back to the situation at-hand.
"We could always just have each person vote on their favourite performance excluding their own," shrugged Phoenix.
"Fine, that sounds pretty fair." 3P agreed.
In the end 3P voted for Phoenix, Lantern voted for Phoenix and Phoenix voted for 3P. "Nice! I can't believe you both voted for me even though I 'covered you in ash' and 'messed up your hair'."
"It was a good performance." Lantern reasoned.
"Well, thanks. Violetstorm and I are pretty competitive, so we did try hard."
Violetstorm had puffed out her chest in pride and smirked at the other dragons. "Told you I could beat them." She purred.
"Your pride will one day be your downfall," predicted Phoenix, deadpan.
"And on that note; let's go! There's more to do!" Lantern saddled up on Inferno and flew back to the GMAD Headquarters. Phoenix and 3P followed, each with their respective dragons.
Twin sisters Dream and Wish were walking down one of the many corridors in GMAD Headquarters, their arms full of the supplies they were tasked with retrieving. They chattered animatedly, excited about the day ahead.
Footsteps and voices echoed down the halls towards them, not escaping the notice of the twins. That wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for who the voices belonged to.
Their conversation cutting off abruptly, the sisters glanced around frantically, seeing nothing but the stone walls on either side of them. Not even a door. So they did the next best thing to hiding themselves, and tried to hide the supplies they were transporting.
Dream shoved the smaller supplies she was carrying into the pockets of her ink blue jeans and her black quiver, while Wish did the same with her own sky blue jean pockets and the pockets of her hoodie. She even placed a small packet in the hood of her hoodie. The remaining supplies they shoved behind their backs, totally (not) inconspicuously.
Three teenage girls rounded the corner, their conversation abruptly cutting off as well. Phoenix smiled at the sight of the two other GMAD members and waved. "Hey Dream and Wish! Morning!"
"Good morning!" The albino and raven-haired elementals smiled nervously, trying not to look suspicious.
Phoenix noticed how their smiles seemed a little TOO big, and how Dream kept shuffling her feet. Phoenix decided to try to act casual and pretend she'd noticed nothing amiss. She conversationally inquired, "How did the mission go? Is everyone else still out?"
"Uh...it was fine," they exchanged glances briefly, "and yeah, everyone's still out as far as we know."
"Do you wanna hang out with us then?" Phoenix prompted, gently testing the waters. Behind Phoenix, 3P and Lantern were staring uneasily between each other, the twins, and Phoenix.
"We'd like to, but we have some stuff we need to take care of." Wish answered genuinely, and Phoenix backed off a bit.
"Sorry," added Dream. It was then that something peculiar happened. When Dream had apologised, she'd tried to do a small half-shrug thing, and accidentally unbalanced one of the objects she was holding behind her back.
To Phoenix's surprise, and the other four's horror, a small tank of helium of all things clattered to the ground behind Dream and slowly rolled to the middle of the small gathering. The five girls stared at it dumbly, not entirely sure what to think.
Unfortunately for the other four, Phoenix was the first to recover from her shock and find her voice. "What the heck?!" She so eloquently transferred her thoughts into words.
Dream started panicking on the inside, but managed to mask most of it with a not-so-innocent-but-trying-really-hard-to-seem-like-it look. "Oh! Um...my helium! I was wondering where that had gone!" She scooped it up with one hand and moved it back behind her back where her other hand still clutched the objects within it.
Dream and her twin started edging around the group, keeping their backs faced away from the three teen girls. "We've, uh...gottagonowbye!" They raced off, still facing towards the girls until they rounded a corner and moved out of eyesight. The twins moved their arms back to the front again, still clutching the supplies.
Dream sighed in relief. "That could have been a disaster."
"You mean it wasn't one?" Wish asked, wondering how different each of their definitions of 'disaster' was.
"Ha ha." Dream laughed sarcastically, glowering at her sister. "C'mon, let's just get this stuff back to the dining hall."
"That was weird," said Phoenix as soon as Dream and Wish had rounded the corner while running backwards. Her suspicions had returned full-force.
"They were probably just getting ready for a prank and were surprised they were pretty much caught red-handed." Lantern lied smoothly, having already thought of the excuse as soon as the helium tank was dropped.
"Hmm," Phoenix's narrow, suspicious gaze didn't let up but nor did she press the issue. Lantern and 3P supposed this was as good as they were gonna get.
3P clapped her hands together, trying to steer the conversation away from such a dangerous topic. "So! What did we have planned next, Lantern?"
Lantern jumped, not expecting to be put on the spot. "We had, oh, it was...laser tag! That's it!"
Phoenix perked up, "Laser tag, you say? I'm gonna enjoy this."
"We thought you might. This way to the arena!" 3P lead the way to the laser tag arena, heading the same way they were travelling before they bumped into Dream and Wish. Phoenix followed happily, but not before shooting a suspicious glance over her shoulder at the corner the twins had disappeared around.
"So, you got the supplies?" Night asked when she saw Dream and Wish scurry into the room.
They glanced at each other uneasily before looking back at Night. "We did get the supplies, but we also kind of...maybe...ran into 3P, Lantern and Phoenix?"
Night's eyes widened, "What?!"
"They didn't see everything we were carrying," amended Wish quickly.
"'Not everything'? Which means they saw something?" Night groaned, hitting the clipboard she held against her head.
Dream laughed nervously. "Oh, don't worry, it was just the helium tank."
Night hit her head with the clipboard again. "I hope they thought it was just for one of your infamous pranks then, Dream."
"We didn't stick around long enough to find out." Wish informed.
Night massaged her temples, "Well, I guess that's something. Go help set up, okay?"
"Aye aye, ma'am!" The twins saluted and ran off with their supplies.
After an action-packed and exhausting game of laser tag Phoenix, Lantern and 3P were heading to the portal room.
"So what universe were we going to?" Phoenix asked.
Lantern smirked smugly and teased, "The one with your boyfriend."
"Lovebirds," muttered 3P, smiling.
"He's not my boyfriend! And we're not lovebirds!" Phoenix threw her hands up in exasperation. "Besides, he doesn't even remember me yet."
"We know," 3P and Lantern shared a look, but Phoenix wasn't entirely sure what passed between them. "Besides, we were kidding. We're going to Gravity Falls for a supernatural adventure."
"Wait, really?" Phoenix questioned in surprise. "Awesome! What supernatural creature are we gonna face off against this time? Please let it be Bill," she muttered the last part to herself, crossing her fingers.
"We're gonna be reckless and impulsive and just walk into the woods with no preparation and see what happens!" Lantern grinned like a maniac and 3P and Phoenix couldn't help but picture her holding a chainsaw like Grell.
Phoenix nodded thoughtfully while 3P was still getting over the mental imagery. "So we're leaving it up to the universe, huh? That's always a good way to go, 'specially since it likes messing with us so much. Oughtta be fun." She bounced on the balls of her feet in readiness, excited at the prospect of a reckless, unplanned, quite possibly dangerous and definitely downright foolish adventure.
"We're going now, right?" Phoenix's question was answered by a portal opening up right in front of them; a swirling vortex of rainbow colour.
"Yep." 3P answered unnecessarily.
Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Then let's hurry up ya dorks!" She grabbed Lantern's and 3P's upper arms and darted through the portal, dragging her friends behind her.
"Thor; report."
A figure in a black hooded cloak with barely visible hazel eyes standing next to Night spoke at her command. "The preparations are well underway and should be completed within the hour."
"Good," Night replied, "send a message to alert them of this news."
"Already done." Thor promptly answered. Night nodded in approval.
"Then we just need to finish before they arrive." To the room at large she shouted, "WE'VE GOT APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE THE PREPARATIONS, PEOPLE! LET'S MAKE IT COUNT!"
The room erupted into quiet conversations and excited murmuring as everyone picked up the pace on the tasks they were assigned. A tall, skinny guy with messy brown hair and grey eyes ran out of the room to tell the others that weren't present the latest update.
"What is he doing?" A hushed whisper broke the silence between the friends hiding in one of the bushes of the Gravity Falls woods. In front of them was a large, hairy, redheaded postman who had just wandered into the woods.
His sudden appearance had startled the three girls wandering the forest enough to send them diving into the closest bush just in case the rustling in the undergrowth was a malevolent supernatural creature.
"Dunno," the pale-haired redhead of the three answered in her typical slang.
The postman stood up straight and looked around cautiously, seeming to have heard them. "Guys, shh!" Lantern whispered quietly enough someone could mistake it as simply mouthing the words. "Look!" She pointed at the postman.
Said postman, apparently deeming the coast clear and the noise made by an animal, had stopped searching for them and was now hunched over on the ground. He was on his hands and feet and was wheezing.
"Should we help him?" 3P asked dubiously.
Before either of the trio's redheads could answer her, the mailman made a noise other than wheezing. A deep growl was emitting from his throat.
His already large, muscular-looking body was growing larger and the ample hair covering more of his body then it should be was spreading by the second. The uniform he was wearing ripped and the seams burst when he grew too large for them, hanging off him in tatters.
Bones cracked and popped as his anatomy rearranged itself to become quadrupedal instead of bipedal, his fingers and toes growing smaller and stubbier and moving closer together aside from the thumbs, which moved to the back of his wrists. The nails on the mailman's former hands, now unable to be considered as anything other than paws, receded back into the skin as deadly black claws grew from the tips of his fingers and toes.
Formerly human ears had turned large and pointed and moved to the top of his head. His face stretched out to form a muzzle, teeth sharpening into fangs and beady black eyes became sharper. Lastly, a bushy red tail burst from the bottom of his spine when the tailbone grew.
A gigantic wolf was standing where a man had been crouching not ten seconds before. The three teenagers gasped: one in horror, one in awe and one in excitement. Unfortunately the former postman now had enhanced canine hearing and heard the soft sounds.
The red wolf turned to the bush they were hiding in, growling fiercely. He tensed his muscles in preparation to pounce.
"Run?" Lantern squeaked in terror.
"Run." 3P agreed in a trembling voice, the beast before them reminding her of her dreaded Sunday form.
The three girls shot out of the bush just before the wolf pounced, crushing it underpaw like a candy wrapper. It recovered quickly, giving chase.
3P screamed when the jaws snapped shut just inches from her right foot, cursing the fact that she sucked at running and was already slowing down a little from all the sprinting and tree-dodging.
"I...hate...mailmen!" Lantern panted out as she ran. She was also having trouble because of a lack of air, feeling her lungs burn as she tried to steady her breathing.
Unlike her friends, Phoenix wasn't slowing down from a lack of endurance or breath, but from the uncontrollable laughing fit she was having that made her legs weak. That's right. A foot from death and all she could do was laugh. "I ALWAYS KNEW HE WAS A WEREWOLF!" She gasped out, not having much breath to spare between laughing and running for her life.
"...werewolf!" A faint, muffled shout drifted through the woods to the Mystery Shack. Dipper was sitting on his bed reading through the journal when he heard it.
"Did somebody just say hairvoolf? What is that, is that even a word?" Dipper's brow furrowed in puzzlement.
From her bed next to him Mabel shrugged, not looking up from her glitter-covered magazine. "I think you're going crazy, bro-bro."
"THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE FOCUSING ON HERE?!" 3P shouted hysterically at her best friend.
"YEP!" Phoenix shouted back, still laughing like a maniac.
Behind the running teens the wolf howled, reminding them of its presence.
Lantern had managed to regain enough breath to yell, "IS THAT WHY YOU'RE LAUGHING SO MUCH?"
"NOPE, I JUST LAUGH LIKE THIS SOMETIMES WHEN I'M ENDANGERED OR HAVING LOTS OF FUN!" Was her answer. Then... "AND SOMETIMES WHEN I'M HIGH ON ADRENALINE!"
The werewolf had had enough of these annoying human girls (or human-looking, at least), and he pounced once more. Unlike last time, he actually landed on someone and brought them crashing down. It was Phoenix.
"PHOENIX!" Her friends hollered in alarm.
Phoenix, who had just started to calm down from her laughing fit was thrown into a completely new one as the wolf leered down at her with his razor sharp teeth. She managed to calm down much quicker then last time though.
"So...come here often?" Phoenix asked conversationally. 3P and Lantern - who were very close to panicking - stopped and groaned, facepalming.
The werewolf leant back a little and seemed to do the wolf equivalent of raising an eyebrow. He glanced from side to side in confusion. Why wasn't this redheaded girl acting like any of his other prey? Where were the screams and struggles?
This was all Phoenix needed to start snickering again. She lifted one of her hands from under the wolf's paw and clicked, causing her, 3P and Lantern to start fading away.
"See ya, little red werewolf!" Her parting sentence rang through the clearing as the three girls disappeared completely. The red-furred wolf howled in frustration when he couldn't scent where they'd gone.
3P, Lantern and Phoenix tumbled through the portal they used to get to Gravity Falls. It closed behind them without a sound, which would've been drowned out anyway by Phoenix's laughter, "Man, that was AWESOME!"
"Not the word I'd use to describe it," 3P said flatly, "but I'm glad you enjoyed it at least."
"Let's go, there's one last thing on our list." Lantern walked out of the portal room, followed by 3P and Phoenix.
"They're back, Night." The same black-haired boy wearing the long red cloak from earlier informed his leader.
Night nodded slowly, glancing over her clipboard. "Is everything set up and ready, Litwick?" Litwick nodded shortly in confirmation. "And is everyone but us in position?" Another nod. "Then let's get into position."
Phoenix glanced around the stone corridor, a little bored with simply walking after the adventure they'd just had. "Are we there yet?"
3P groaned, "No! Just like we weren't there the last nine times you asked!"
"I'll stop asking if you tell me where we're going," baited Phoenix.
"Not a chance."
Phoenix shrugged carelessly. "Then you're just gonna have to put up with me continuing to ask. Are we-"
"Yes!" Lantern exclaimed, stopping in front of a large, familiar door.
"The dining hall?" Phoenix asked cluelessly. "It's not even dinner."
"We know," smirked 3P. "Are you gonna open the door?"
At 3P's question Phoenix glared at her two friends, but moved to open the doors anyway. "If this is a stupid prank I swear to God-" The doors flew open quickly, Phoenix jumping back just in case. Lantern and 3P pushed her forwards into the dark room.
"SURPRISE!"
Suddenly the lights flickered on, revealing the entirety of GMAD as well as some non-GMAD members in the well-decorated hall. Glowing balloons were either tied to tables (that were covered in either delicious-looking food or presents) by string or resting against the ceiling which was covered in a sparkling magical frost that caused it to lightly snow in the room. Glittering streamers were hung up on the walls and mystical flames were floating in the air to light up the room and burn the snow into embers before it reached anyone. Golden bubbles traced the edges of the room. Finally, a giant banner hung on the back wall of the room, reading-
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PHOENIX!"
-and Phoenix couldn't be more shocked. The only thing running through her mind was, It's my birthday?
She hadn't realised she'd spoken aloud until Lantern slung an arm around her shoulder and 3P smiled warmly at her. "It sure is. We all knew you'd had a crummy life before you joined GMAD, so we wanted to make your first birthday since then special!"
All of GMAD as well as her friends outside of GMAD crowded around her, grinning, and Phoenix's shocked look turned into a small, soft smile. "I don't know what to say. Thank you- all of you." Her own grin made its way onto her face. "Now let's get this party started!" The cheers of her friends answered her call, and Phoenix knew this would be the best birthday she'd ever had.