"Morning, kid."

A familiar voice called out to him through the darkness of his subconscious, slowly and unwillingly dragging him out of his state of peace. He didn't want to wake up. His mind agreed, his heart agreed, and his body agreed. Yesterday had been a pretty rough day, having to battle a huge worm-like monster, a bomb monster, (He didn't even know they existed. Then again, this was the Monsterverse, and you could never tell what could come out of there.) and that damned balloon monster who just didn't know when to quit. Even with the help of his friends, getting all of them back in the pack was a huge hassle. His back ached from being slung on a brick wall, he was littered in bruises -his mom and Pyper didn't see them, thankfully- that ached from even the slightest of movement, and he was pretty sure that he broke something.

"Come on, kid. Wakey wakey."

His head hurt too, now that he was taking a moment to think. Was it from exhaustion? A concussion? He hoped that it wasn't the latter, explaining how he got it to his mom would be hard. The voice was aggravating it. Who was that? It was clearly a girl, but it was too deep to be Cleo's, too high to be his mom's, and not childish enough to be Pyper's. Could it be Snooch dropping by for a surprise check up on his duties? Oh, that was out of the question as well. There would be a British accent, wouldn't there? And she never called him "kid".

"You have to be kidding me...dude, WAKE UP."

The owner of the voice flicked his cheek, sending a volt of electricity down his body. Her fingers were icy cold, he noticed, even if the contact was for a second.

She was moving. He didn't know where she was going, but she was moving. Should he open his eyes? Half of him wanted to, but he felt that maybe things would play out safely if he continued to fake his sleep. His bed creaked.

"I know you're awake, kid. Your eyes are flickering like mad."

She was right next to his ear, but...she wasn't beside him. Shifting his right leg an inch, it nudged her knee.

Her knee, well, knees were on the bed. The only way that could be possible was if... she was on top of him.

"AHHHH!" he screamed, propelling himself off of the pillow and banging foreheads with the girl. She fell off of his bed with a grunt, rubbing her forehead.

"Oww, what the hell, dork?!"

"D-Dahlia?"

"Really? You hit me in the head, and all you say is my name? Not even an apology? Ass."

He held a hand to his thundering heart, taking deep breaths as he tried to relax. At least he knew who this mystery person was. Yet, it only raised more questions than answers. What was she doing here? Why was she here? How did she get out of the pack with him -or anybody- hearing her? He did recall saying that they should hang out sometime, but he never thought that some time was ever going to happen. He smiled, scratching his head. "Oh, hi! Sorry about that, you kinda scared me there for a sec."

Dahlia snorted as she stood up, shoving her hands in her pockets. "How? You could hear me talking to you, you were clearly awake."

She walked around his room, picking up a few items and observing them, glancing at the posters and trophies.

"Weeelll, I didn't expect a visit from you this-. "

"You didn't? Well, that's rude," Dahlia put down one of his Hot Wheels, leaning against his dresser. "I'm your friend, aren't I? Why wouldn't you expect a visit from me? " She paused for a moment, "I get that it's been a while, but I never forgot your offer. You didn't forget...did you?"

Her yellow eyes stared him down, her expression blank. (And scary, to tell the truth.)

"No! I-I remember it as clear as day!" He chirped, throwing his legs over the side of his bed.(thankfully this was one of those rare nights where he wore his pants to bed.) "I'm thrilled you came, Dahlia, we've all missed you!"

"I guess I could say the same, kid," she shrugged. "Anyway, maybe we could go out to the alleyways and practice bagging monsters, using the weapons and all. I mean, you've been improving since the last time I've saw you, right?" She asked with a cocky smile as he clambered out of bed. Grabbing the open pack, he assuredly nodded.

"Oh-ho yeah, I've improved quite a lot since our last encounter. You know, yesterday, I bagged three monsters. Three. " Ollie zipped the accessory up. "I think I got this Chosen one job down packed, haha." He simpered modestly at the pun while Dahlia displayed unamusement.

"A pun...how great. Alright, hurry up and get your shoes on. The sooner we start, the better. Meet me in the alley, okay?"

The wolf/cat/thing opened his window, throwing one leg out. "Let's see if you're still a soft taco, kid."

That said, she jumped out, landing gracefully on the concrete. He wondered how she did it; he tried it once, but it only resulted in a broken arm and a dented car. If Cleo hadn't been laughing her ass off at his misfortune, then the event would've been much more, well, forgettable. Okay, maybe not forgettable -diving out of a window and breaking the windshield of a car wasn't something to brush off- but at least less embarrassing.

What was he supposed to be doing? Shoes, right.

The nickname he hated with passion repeated in his head as he threw his shoes on, and he found himself getting a little upset about it. He wasn't a soft taco. He never was, and he never will. Could a soft taco deal with the deadliest monster in the Monsterverse? No... okay, he did it the help of Rance, but he did most of the fighting stuff.

Could a soft taco wrestle with an explosive (literally) monster and make it out alive? Hell no. Not once did he get scorched by the creature, not even a single burn. He was practically bitchslapped by the creature, yeah, but he fought right back and came up victorious. And he only had one friend help him that time.

So no, he wasn't a soft taco.

Soft tacos were gross.

"Let's start with the basics. Here, show me what you got."

He never would've thought that his morning would play out like this, standing outside in an alleyway and having a laser lasso handed to him. Dahlia respectively gave him room, flicking her hand as a sign for him to start.

"Got it!" he held it in his hands as he tried to figure out how to turn it on. It had been months since he used this; he was supposed to have a test about using the monster weapons, but the entire council agreed that he was nowhere near ready for it. He turned it upside down. Maybe it was an invisible switch? Or did he have to shout something first? That seemed silly.

"What's the holdup?"

"Funny thing, I -now don't laugh too much at this- forgot how to...use the whip," he admitted shyly.

She was quiet at first. If she was quiet, then nothing good could come out of it. Then she giggled.

"W-wow. To tell the truth, I expected something like this to happen. Man, this day is getting better and better! Hit the button, dork."

Rolling his eyes, she did as she said, and the laser whip thing shot out fast. As it hung on the ground, he quizzically looked at the former chosen one. "Now what?"

"You see that rock over there?" she pointed to a huge rock not too far away from them, who was minding its own business and was on its way to bring back some milk to a loving family. "Try to slice it in half from where you're standing."

"Simple enough," he scoffed, eyeing the rock intensely as he twirled the whip like a lasso. "I'll do it in one shot, watch."

He slung it back before throwing it forwards, leaning for better accuracy. It ricocheted off of the brick wall, thus leading into a super double quadruple roundabout, wrapping around a streetlight.

"Oops...hold on, I got it! Lemme just...uh..."

The laser was slowly slicing into the streetlight, and it would only be a matter of time until it completely chopped in half and thundered into the concrete. That was some property damage that would take years to make up for. Pulling it, he realized, would only make things worse and quicken the process.

"Don't tell me you don't know how to retract it, dork."

"I know how! I just...gotta... remember..."

"Give that here before you hurt yourself," Dahlia sighed, taking the weapon from him and pushing him to the side. With a single click of a button, she got the whip to unwind around the light, snapping back into the base. "That's how it's done." She tossed it at him. The object fumbled around in his hands before he could get a good grip.

"I would've thought that after all this time, you would've mastered the lasso," she continued, whipping her bangs out of her right eye. "But nope. Still the same old soft taco I know and love. Oh well, that was a bust. Come on, let's find something a little easier for you to practice on." She began to walk out of the alley, hands in her pocket.

" 'Still the same old soft taco I know and love.' " Ollie mimicked her under his breath, slinging the pack on his shoulders. "I bet a soft taco couldn't slice a street light in half, so...ha to the godamm ha."

"C'mon, dork, quit mumbling to yourself!" She called.

"Dork...I-I'll show you a dork... freaking...WAIT UP I'M COMING!" he abruptly stopped his mumbling and quickened his pace when Dahlia began to run.