misfortune Sylphiel gathered her bags, waving to the shop manager before walking out the door of the store. Filia left money for Sylphiel to do the shopping for that week. Sylphiel didn't make it to the store later that even. She could have gone in the morning, but she wanted to have the shopping done before Val arrived the next morning.

It was pretty dark out, so Sylphiel put up a lighting spell. A few minutes later she stopped, turning around.

"Who's out there?" She asked, hearing a noise behind her. She looked around, a bit scared.

"We gots a lively one." Four men walked out from the bushes around her.

"What do you want?" Sylphiel asked bravely.

"You ain't gotta be no spaceship dude to know 'dat." On guy spoke up, his eyes roaming over her body.

Sylphiel heart started pounding out of fear. "Lighting!" She called out.

Being a great white magic user, she boosted the lighting to be a lot brighter then usual, blinding the men. She looked around, making sure got them, then took off as fast she could, her bags bumping her legs as she swung them.

She stopped five miles later, to catch her breath. The sound of glass jars clinking together could be heard, when she fell to the ground. After fifteen seconds, she got up again and started to walk on towards the house. It was about a block away, and she figured she wouldn't have any trouble.

She was wrong.

Namko Resort - Midnight

Filia paced her room floor angrily. "Does he have to ruin everything all the time?!" She asked aloud.

She and Hito went to the Resort's beach that day. It was sunny but breezy and they decided it would be a good day for a picnic, and a good time to enter the tennis competition as partners. But Xellos and Rika showed up joining them in their picnic. Playing against them in tennis, and in Filia's opinion, utterly ruining their evening.

The evening was spent walking around the carnival with Xellos insulting Filia, who was trying to keep her cool in front of Hito, who was upset at the attention Filia was giving Xellos even though Xellos had Rika clinging on to him. Filia flopped to her bed staring at the ceiling. She stared at it for a while before drifting off to sleep.

"Filia is her name, getting Xellos away from her is my game." Rika looked in the mirror, taking off any makeup she wore that day.

"Too bad I live off the resort's campus. No telling how far Filia would go to get my Xellos." Rika said to herself, pouting.

To her Filia and Xellos spent the evening flirting. She figured Filia didn't mind what people thought of her. Flirting with Xellos and Hito was really going over board. She didn't mind Filia with Hito, just as long as she doesn't go far with her Xellos.

Sylphiel started to cry as the men bound her wrist. She thought they wouldn't be able to catch up with her yet. She felt a rough hand on her thigh that made her back up. The man chuckled which sent shivers down Sylphiel's spine.

"We gonna have fun with this here bitch." He said rubbing his hand up and down her thigh.

One guy pushed her forward into a car, then jumped in. The other three guys were in the car, and took off. The guy to her right, who they called 'Benji", reached over and cupped her breast with one of his hands.

"She comes with jugs." He said aloud. Two of the men laughed, slightly cheering. Syphiel bowed her head, crying silently.

It happened in a second. The guy in the passenger's seat pulled out a gun. "Pull over and let the girl go." He said quietly.

Sylphiel looked up feeling a bit relieved. The guy driving, Ryo, looked over casually. "Whatcha ya talkin' 'bout, Marco? You agreed too."

"I'm not Marco." The guy stated.

Ryo braked the car in surprise. Benji reached up to punch the man in the front seat, but instead busted the headrest.

Sylphiel felt the guy to her left, Hellion, grab her by the waist and pull her out of the car. All three men started running as fast as they could, with Sylphiel with them.

The guy from before, teleported in. "Your not going anywhere." He said, punching Ryo and Benji out. Hellion looked frightened and dropped Sylphiel, backing up slowly, hands in front of his face.

'His name sure doesn't go with the attitude." The rescuer thought with a smirk.

He lifted his hand and Hellion started to float in the air. The cloaked rescuer then placed his hand down; Hellion's shirt was caught on a high tree branch. Sylphiel, who had been watching this, laughed a little at what had happened then, struggled to stand up.

"Um... I don't know how to thank you..." She said nervously. The rescuer noticed her hands stilled tied behind her back, and went over to untie them.

"You can thank me by not coming out late at night by yourself." He said coldly. Sylphiel gulped.

"I... uh... My best friend's son is coming home from a trip, and well uh, she is out of town and I wanted to have a dinner ready for him tomorrow... and well I didn't think I'd be out this late getting groceries." She explained.

"Oh no! My groceries." She cried out. Since the man untied her hands, she placed her hands to her cheeks, fretting.

"Don't worry..." The man disappeared for a second, then came back. "They are right here."

Sylphiel turned around and took her bags. "Thank you very much." She bowed slightly, then looked up at the man. She wished she could see what he looked like.

"Um... Here." She pulled out some money out of her jeans pocket. "Appreciation." She said, holding it out to him.

"That's ok..." The man turned around, disappearing in the air, leaving a mysterious arua, before evaporating completely. Sylphiel was left standing there, before she realized she should start to head home.

Take me back