My Autumn

Her ebony hair flew around her as an eruption of autumn colors swirled in the wind. She lifted her right hand and gently pushed back her hair while the other hand grabbed an orange leaf from the air. She looked down at the leaf that she held in her hand. A smile lit her face as her senses took in the atmosphere of fall.

"So, you like the color orange Miss Minori?" Mimori looked up to a familiar orange-haired figure.

"It's Mimori, and yes I do, actually. Well," she paused as she looked around her, " when it's in the leaves."

"As opposed to what exactly?" the Speedster asked.

"I," she quickly covered her mouth as she turned to look up at Cougar, "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that autumn is my favorite season."

Cougar looked at her and smiled. It was nice to hear her speak of something that made her happy.

"Wow, look over there! Is that one of those alters!" someone yelled out.

Cougar and Mimori turned to see a small group of children making no attempt to hide their mixture of curiosity and fear as they stared at the couple. The obnoxious kid who yelled out the comment was pointing straight at Cougar. The uniform always drew attention.

Cougar just ignored the comment, he was used to such things from society. Mimori, however, was bothered.

Se walked up to the group with a smile on her face, the Speedster raised an eyebrow to this.

"Hello, my name is Mimori, what's yours?" The kids all went silent, unsure as to what to do.

"What's the matter? Now I know that you can't all be afraid of me." Mimori said to them, holding her hands out to her sides to signify that she was no one to be afraid of.

All of the children looked towards the obnoxious boy who was obviously the leader of the group. He stepped forward, "My name is Yuji." he responded.

"Well Yuji, how do you feel about alter users?" the Hold worker asked.

"Um... er. Well, all I know is that they have evil powers. They work in HOLD which causes trouble and destruction all the time." Yuji answered, being sure not to make eye contact with her.

"Well, I'm from HOLD, do you think that I am evil?" She asked him.

There was a pause, finally the boy shook his head.

"See, it's bad to stereotype like that. My friend over there is a member of HOLY, but what he does is work to keep the peace, not to disrupt it. Now does he seem so evil?"

Yuji looked at the HOLY member for a moment, obviously trying to take in this new information. "I guess not." he said, he had obviously never really thought about it.

"Well, that's enough for today. You kids had better get going home to your books, it's a school night." With that Mimori turned and walked back over to Cougar.

The Speedster was speechless, which never happened, as he stood there with his mouth gaped open. She looked up at him, "What's the matter?"

He looked down at her, "Why did you do that?" he asked her.

The HOLD worker was surprised, she hadn't expected such a simple question.

"I just can't stand it when people make such assumptions about alters, especially when they teach their children their misconceptions. I just want to teach them the truth." there was a fire in her eyes as she gave her explanation.

"Well, it looks like you have a lot of work cut out for you then." The HOLY member said as he put on his pink shades. The sun caught the lenses and sent a quick glare across them, which helped to add to his all-knowing mystery.

HOLY wasn't as busy as they had been the last few months. Things on the Lost Ground always quieted down in the fall and spring.

"I don't like the fall at all." Urizani said as he absentmindedly used his fork to make shapes in his mashed potatoes, "there's never anything to do."

"I know what you mean," Azuka replied as he continued to roll the peas around on his plate.

"What do you mean? I thought you were going to hang out with Cammy?" Urizani asked, looking up from his now mashed potatoes and gravy volcano.

"Not so much lately. School's started and she helps teach kids how to read in the afternoons."

"Hey guys," Elion said unenthusiastically, he was greeted with an even less enthusiastic "hey" from the two.

"It seems to me that you all need to find something constructive to spend your time on," a voice behind them said. Sherise was also coming to join the others at the table, tray in hand.

"Brilliant deduction there Einstein," Urizani said, emphasizing the sarcasm, "and I suppose you know of something to do?"

"As a matter of fact I do," the blue-haired girl said as she set down her tray.

The three guys suddenly looked attentive, greedy for anything new, "There's a group of international students coming to tour the Lost Ground."

"What do you mean? They don't let tourist groups into the Lost Ground," Elion said,

suddenly disappointed.

"Well, this isn't any tourist group," she responded, "it's the children of the world's elite, coming here to 'observe the alters'."

"What's so interesting about that then?" Urizani asked, beginning to become irritated.

"Think about it, something this big is ganna spread across the Lost Ground fast. I wouldn't put it past the Native Alter Users to try to pull something." Azuka said, answering the watermelon-loving alter's question.

"Exactly." Sherise added.

"Hey Kazuma, I just caught wind of something big!" Kimishima said as he crawled through the window of the old clinic.

"Oh ya, how much? And don't you ever use the door!" Kazuma yelled at his friend from the doctor's seat.

"I'm not sure exactly, but the pay's big." Kimishima said, finally making his way in.

"Oh ya? Well what have you go this time?"

"A field trip."

"A wa..?"

"A field trip. A plane load of the children of the elite are coming to the Lost Ground."

"Children? And what do you expect me to do!"

"Calm down. It's not like I'm asking you to put anyone in danger, but what you do need to do is send a message to the main land."

"And the pay's big?"

"Yes already!"

"Okay, so when does this plane arrive?"