Fall had now cooled into the season of Winter and many families were struggling to enjoy their last weeks of going to school and work taking a day off before Winter vacation for them. Many of them were going on a late vacation, and others were hanging with friends and families and going to parties. This particular day in December was a busy one for the skating rinks of New York. Everyone was enjoying themselves before the days of relaxation would get busier, especially a certain number of eight children who had just gotten their skates on and making their way towards the rink. "Funky Town" by Echo Pseudo was playing in the background.
"Have fun, everybody! It's the first time we've been able to hang out together without something going wrong!" Amelia's excited voice rang out from the loud music.
"But of course!" Francis agreed with a chuckle. He stepped into the rink, but he slipped and gripped the railing tightly and he looked like a scared cat. Elizabeth snickered and turned away covering her mouth. He looked so ridiculous!
Francis stood upright on wobbly feet and forced a smile.
"Peace of cake! Hohoho-" he nearly fell again and gripped the railing.
"Do you need help?" Amelia offered, but Francis shook his head.
"Non! It's been a while since I skated is all it is!"
"Well, okay. If you need a hand just-" Amelia was cut off when someone sped past them in a blur and onto the rink. It was Ivan, of course. Amelia frowned and cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted.
"Show off! This isn't Ice skating, it's roller skating!" but she knew it was pointless shouting at him when he was already halfway down the other side. She sighed and shrugged.
Germanacy stepped onto the rink with Ita and Kibu following her. May stepped onto the rink, but she too started slipping and sliding and fell on her butt. She felt embarrassed as Amelia helped her up.
"Maybe Francis and I should stay behind?"
"Come on!" Amelia pouted, "That's no fun, watching from the sideline."
"You go ahead," May said as she turned away, still feeling embarrassed. Amelia shook her head and pulled her forward.
"No you don't! We came here to have fun! Come on, I'll teach ya!"
"But I don't want to be a burden," May told her.
"You're not a burden. You're going to have fun really soon, I promise! That's the promise of a heroine!" May still wasn't sure about this, but she nodded her head.
"Okay."
Amelia smiled as she looked back at Elizabeth.
"Oh and Elizabeth? Help Francis, will you?" She didn't wait for a response. "Thanks!"
Elizabeth, meanwhile, had just stepped onto the rink when Amelia 'asked her to help Francis'. She froze and stared after Amelia as if the American had handed her a cobra. Her feet felt light and wobbly. She had skated for years and knew how to balance on skates. But the fact that she was chosen {not asked}to help Francis made her suddenly forget about confidence. What's worse, she seemed to ALWAYS be stuck with him. WHY?!
Elizabeth slid her eyes to her right at Francis, who had just regained himself from falling for a third time. He smiled at her and looked as if he was going to hug her.
"My hero!" he said as he took a step toward her. He slid, of course, and held onto her for support. Elizabeth shrieked and he didn't understand why, until he noticed that he had...um...accidentally, of course...touched her breast as he tried to hold onto her from falling. Elizabeth, her face red, slapped him. This not only knocked Francis off his feet, but she stumbled too and gave him bloodshot eyes as if to warn him never to do that to her again. Francis shivered as it seemed like her fingernails were scratching and leaving marks on the floor.
"S-sorry!" he squeaked.
Germanacy was enjoying herself, until Ita had caught up and was skating beside her. She tried to ignore his goofy face.
"Sooooooooooo, Nancy. You're...available, right?" he asked, sounding rather shy for himself.
"Vhat are you talking about?" she asked, but then understood what he meant. She decided not to answer and continued skating. Ita followed her and had joined her side again.
"Because I am!"
"Big surprise," she thought sarcastically to herself. She remained quiet and tried to hasten her pace, wanting to get away from his awkward questions. But no matter how fast she tried to skate, he always caught up! What was with him? He's been really crazy this whole day. Ita was always crazy, but this was different.
"Why are you following me?" she finally asked.
"Because we're friends and friends should stick together!" Ita smiled.
"Nein, zhis is different! It's almost like you're trying to match mein movements," she clarified.
"Oh, well I guess it's because I like you, Nancy." The two stopped.
"You mean 'like', like a friend? Or 'like, like'? Like you vant to hold mein hand or something?" That was a mistake to mention it, because Ita took her hand.
"Good idea!" He smiled. Nancy pulled her hand away.
"Nein! Bad idea!" It was then that Kibu had caught up to them. He stopped for breath.
"At last, I have been trying to catch up to you two for quite a while," he said.
"Oh, sorry, Kibu. Ita vas just being..." she decided not to finish. She didn't want to say 'annoying' and hurt Ita's feelings, but she didn't want to encourage him either. She then felt a tingle go down her spine.
Something didn't feel right and she glanced around the rink. Kibu frowned, he could tell something was wrong and he could feel it too.
"Is something wrong?" Ita asked, "you look so scary with your serious faces."
"Does somezhing seem off to you, Ita?" Nancy asked him.
"No," Ita said, confused. "What is it?"
"Ve have to vorn zhe others," Nancy told them. Kibu nodded.
"Hai, I agree." They started skating away, with Ita confused but he followed them.
"There ya go!" Amelia smiled as May was starting to get the hang of keeping her balance and skating well for a beginner. May smiled too, this was fun. A lot of fun! She felt proud of herself, but a chill ran down her spine and she stopped.
"What's wrong?" Amelia asked as she too stopped.
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling."
"Maybe you're just hungry? I'm starting to starve too," Amelia suggested. May shook her head.
"No, that's not it." She glanced around and caught movement. "There!" she pointed to a figure who was standing outside the skating area.
"T-that can't be! No! Why are they here?!" Amelia's voice trembled.
"We have to tell the others!" May told her.
"Uh, Duh! This is high alert!" Amelia said.
"May, Amelia!" Nancy said as she, Ita, and Kibu skated up.
"Something is wrong! We don't know what, but something is!" Kibu told them. May nodded.
"Yeah, I felt it too. And we saw it too!"
"Really?!" the Axis trio shouted in union.
"Let's get the others first and then we can talk about it," Amelia said.
"I agree," May and the others nodded.
Elizabeth and Francis were still trying to regain balance, but every time Elizabeth stood up with Francis, his feet slipped under him and they would fall. EVERYTIME! It was getting on Elizabeth's nerves. She was not having fun at all with Francis dragging her down.
"Do you want to skate, or not?!" she almost yelled. Her impatience with Francis was only harder on teaching him.
"I'm sorry, I'm just clumsy!" Francis whimpered under the heat of her glare. The five others skated up.
"Why are you guys still here?" Amelia asked. Elizabeth glared at her.
"Don't ask!"
"Elizabeth is mad because I accidentally touch her-"
"Shut up, we're not talking about that!"
"We have to talk about something now! Something bad," May said. Ivan had skated up by then.
"Are we all leaving?" he sounded a bit disappointed.
"There you are!" Amelia said, "You disappeared after taking off."
"Sorry, I was having fun," he said shyly.
"Yeah, showing off your skating tricks, I bet," Amelia thought but kept it to herself.
"Now that we're all here we can talk about what Amelia and I saw," May said, getting everyone's attention.
"You won't believe this but-"
"We saw a Pictonian!" Amelia said, interrupting May.
"A What?" Elizabeth frowned.
"A Pictonian!" Amelia repeated.
"I heard you! I mean what are they doing here?"
"That's the point!"
"If the Pictonians are here, zhen it can't be good," Nancy concluded.
"But the Pictonians are our friends now, right? Maybe they came for a visit?" the always cheerful Ita suggested.
"Then why would I have a bad feeling about the whole thing?" May asked. Nobody said anything.
"We should investigate," Francis nodded.
"I agree, we should follow them and-" Kibu said but was interrupted by a rumbling that made the ground shake.
"An earthquake?" Ivan said as they all stumbled to the floor and reached for the railing to hold on.
"No, it's something worse!" May's voice said in horror. The other people inside the building were screaming and children were crying in alarm. Then, one by one, they started to fade away.
"What's going on?!" Amelia screamed.
"I wish I knew!" May told her. Then their vision faded and the skating rink disappeared before they could understand what was happening.
