With the new week, the Star Guardians were extremely careful; on the one hand they had the enemy guardians stalking them, the idea of getting attacked in the middle of class or anything was still there. However, on the other was the exams that were that same week and everyone was occupied so if any monsters appeared they would be in trouble.

During the first recess Taliyah was talking to Sophie, trying to avoid the Star Guardian topic since they feared someone might be hearing, especially Jinx because she was still on her seat, doing nothing but chewing gum and twirling some pencils in between her fingers.

But the conversation between the two girls ended quickly when the small white-blonde haired Yordle appeared ¨Soph have you received the message?¨

¨Uh… no…¨ The dark haired looked back at Taliyah then at her partner ¨Didn't receive anything¨

Poppy frowned and looked to her right and saw the light blue ponytail that was swinging around. The tiny one pulled it and of course this attracted Jinx's attention since she was now forced to look at the Yordle and her support ¨Why didn't you tell her about the birthday?!¨ She quickly talked and tried to sound angry but for the rebel she just smiled and used the little one's head as a support to get back on her chair.

¨I mean… what's the matter Pops? She would know it eventually¨

¨Can you take something seriously? Last year you did the same!¨

¨And yet she had a wonderful time, we all won¨

¨But right now we have a bigger matter at hands with-¨ Poppy turned her eyes towards Taliyah before saying anything else; she then decided to look back at Sophie ¨Can you please come out?¨

Out in the hallway the two girls tried to find a place to talk, the latest member knew what kind of topic they would be discussing but at the same time she was curious about the birthday thing Poppy and Jinx talked about ¨So…¨

¨Right¨ The Yordle sighed and sat on the ground while her tall friend did the same ¨Even though this is Exam's week and we have the other team on our backs, this Friday is Lulu's birthday and we all planned a surprise party for her on the Literature Club¨

¨Wait, why didn't I knew this before?¨

¨Well Lux and Janna were busy with the studies for the exam, I was drowning in homework and notes during the weekend, Lulu… well she is the birthday girl, so we trusted the task to Jinx¨

¨Ok so… let me get this straight: You told Jinx… out of anyone in this universe, to tell me about this party?¨ Poppy was about to speak but Sophie interrupted talking once again ¨Also we still have the group chat that I made but no one barely talks except Lulu and Lux sometimes¨

¨Ok first, it was our mistake to give this task to Jinx; second we used to have a group chat way before you joined, but things happened went out of control when our mutual crazy companion was tagging all of us at 3 in the morning just to wake us up or clutter the entire chat with pictures of her destroying things¨

¨Uh… ok? So what's this about the birthday party?¨

¨Oh yeah, we're going to need to get a lot of things: Balloons, some confetti, things to hand on the walls, flowers¨

¨Flowers?¨

¨Yeah she likes those, purple ones are her favorite. We also need a cake, Lux already made one last year so we can count her on that¨

¨Ok so what do I need to do? What do I get?¨

¨Everything¨

After hearing this Soph just snapped, she had exams and a group of evil girls trying to kill her so doing this alone was a no-go for her ¨Are you serious?¨

¨No it was all a joke- Of course we have to get everything. We'll just go back home after classes and then we'll go to the mall and find some place that sell party stuff¨

¨Alright, we'll talk over on the phone, ok?¨ Poppy nodded and the two of them went to their respective classrooms.

Sophie found her way into the mall and waited for the Yordle there; she was sitting on a bench taking a look at her phone and holding it was almost 6 PM and Poppy told her they'll meet 5:30, being half an hour late was just a waste of time but at the same time the support was afraid something happened to her partner, in times like these they cannot be too relaxed about anything but she made a promise in regards to Lulu's birthday.

From the bag she was carrying there was some movement until the head of Shisa came out to get some air ¨Finally, I was suffocating inside of that thing!¨

¨I thought familiars didn't need air, or food, or water… or anything to be honest¨

¨Just because we don't need any of those it doesn't mean… it doesn't… mh¨ The small creature grumped which made the guardian smile ¨I don't like waiting here in the open, you made a promise that's true, but you could use this time to study or to perfect your abilities¨

¨The first wave of exams are on Wednesday until the weekend, I will dedicate the entire of the day to studying once I get back home, especially tomorrow¨ Sophie held the ice cream come close to the bag so her familiar would have a taste ¨I didn't knew you were so into red bean ice cream¨

¨It's not my fault you humans created these kind of things that are so… delicious¨

¨Shisa I need to ask you this. Am I the first guardian you were assigned to?¨

¨Yes… all familiars are created by the First Star to protect and guide their guardian, there were many before me and I'm sure there will be more in the future; Star Guardians aren't eternal, they either die serving the First Star or just get to a point where their lives rend them unusable for the kind of task they were given in the first place¨

¨But Janna is kind of immortal, isn't she?¨ Sophie wondered since during some conversation Janna stated she was thousand years old, despite her figure¨

¨That's because she is the last of her kind; an entity created from a star and given shape by the First One to become a protector. Most of this team you are on now is composed of human girls, human being the key word here since you all have a limited life¨

¨I'm still wondering, why would the First Star choose the likes of Katarina and her people to become a team… I mean, they don't even look like us¨

¨That's a question I've been pondering for a while; they don't look like Star Guardians but have similar powers. Maybe their source of powers don't come from the same place as yours and it might be something different¨

¨Is that even possible? Magic was never a thing in this world and even if it was, the only use it had was for entertaining kids¨

¨While it may sound impossible, we've all seen that is not true, so there is no doubt something is happening. You should share this idea with the rest of the team, just in case¨

¨Yeah I know…¨ Sophie raised her head and saw the Yordle coming in fast ¨There she is¨ The guardian stood up and pushed the head of Shisa inside of the bag ¨What took you so long, I've been waiting here for a long time!¨

¨Sorry, there was a lot of traffic and the bus had to take a detour¨ Poppy was wearing a shirt with a pair of shorts and shoes, not the most suitable outfit for the last days of summer ¨Alright, so if I'm not mistaken the party shop should be on the upper floor¨

As they travelled the mall they found their desired shop; from there the girls started to flll up the cart with bags of balloons, colored banners and even a piñata. The entire place was quite empty and only few customers were there, this gave Sophie some time to ask questions, especially since no one would be near to eavesdrop.

¨Poppy… Shisa and I've been thinking about the other team…¨

¨Do you really want to talk about that here?¨

¨You're the closest one I have right now. Just think about this: The enemy team has powers, maybe not like ours but they are certainly on a same degree of `magical´, don't you think?¨

¨Well… yeah, I don't think using swords, teleporting or even summoning plants to try and kill people count as normal¨

¨Yeah, however they don't look like us, their outfits are different; would you actually think the First Star sent this team to help us?¨

Poppy stopped for a second, thinking about this ¨I'm not going to deny that they are different but the First Star idea was something I did not thought at the moment, not even now. It is sketchy¨

¨Exactly, what if their powers come from somewhere else? Like… uh… I don't know, you know what I mean, right?¨

¨It could be anything to be honest, maybe not on Earth but out there on space are many things we barely understand, the First Star is a powerful entity, our source of powers, maybe there are other entities that too have a lot of power and need their protectors¨

¨How about the Dark Star?¨

¨We fought its minions for quite a while, even before you joined and it never used humans or any of the like, besides Kat and her people would look like monsters, wouldn't they?¨

¨Yeah… that does make sense, anyway do we have everything?¨ The two girls looked at the contents of the cart and they were happy about it ¨Yeah, seems like it, let's pay this up and go back home¨

It is time the guardians dig more about the Anti Star Guardians, and of course they won't be the only ones since Ren will also be on the lookout for more info with his new contact; also more time for Poppy and Sophie as well as an incoming birthday for Lulu but don't tell anyone to her about it!

Chapter done, I'm back to the writing board, There should be 2 more chapters before writing some more Heroes & Legends.

But until then I'm out but not before I bid my farewells like this:

See you in the next chapter ;)