Update 19-5-2020:

Rewrote the design of the Newans, made some small format chances and cut the length of this chapter in half.

The cavern-like room bathed in bright, white light. Anaris slowly broke out in a big grin underneath her facemask. She bounced in place for just a few moments, before taking a deep breath.

"MASTER DIAO!"

"Lanterns, what did she blow up now…" Someone muttered from the other room.

Finally, a hand shoved the curtain separating the two rooms aside. Master Diao narrowed his four glowing eyes at his excitable scientist.

"I hope you have a good reason this time to disturb my nap…" He growled at her. But Anaris was far too excited to care.

"As a matter of fact, I do! Tadaa!"

She stepped aside, showing the pillar behind her, glowing white. "I finally managed to create my newest creation: The Newanizer!"

"So, another source to create more Newans."

Anaris looked behind her master to see Hidekai sarcastically rolling his eyes at her. Well, that's what she guessed he was doing, with his glowing, iris-less eyes and such. She returned the gesture.

"Oh, go play your harp while I do something that is actually productive."

"Anaris." Master Diao warned sharply.

She swallowed her pride away. "Right. So, as you have already found out, normal Newans cannot pierce through the barrier that separates this plane of existence from earth's."

"I am aware."

"Yes, well, uh, and because of that, we need stronger Newans to do just that. Like the three of us."

"We cannot dwindle our numbers even further than they already are." Master Diao pointed out.

"Exactly! Which is why I created the Newanizer! It will allow us to mutate normal Newans into Meta Newans, new powers and all! The humans won't know what's coming!"

Hidekai put his harp down as he stared in awe at the Newanizer. "I take everything back. This is brilliant!"

Anaris shrugged. "Well, to be fair, I still need to test it."

Master Diao turned to Hidekai. "Then bring me a Newan. We shall see how well your invention works. And if it does work…"

He grinned, looking at the globe in his throne room. "…We shall start our take-over once more."

-Opal Valley, the Roger's house-

"GILLLLROOOOYYYYY!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…"

Gilroy took one last moment to wish his sleep goodbye and rose from the mattress. The knocking on his door continued. Grumbling, he threw on some bathrobes and opened the door.

"Please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up at 5.30 am."

Billy pouted at him. "Jordan is being mean again. He won't stop throwing Mr. Snooze around."

Gilroy sighed deeply. "How come the three of you are already awake in the first place?"

Courtney crossed her arms. "Because Molly started crying, so Jordan woke up. And then he started throwing Mr. Snooze and Bella and he won't stop."

Forcing himself to calm down, Gilroy shot a quick glance at Gary. His roommate was still asleep. He was almost tempted to wake him up, but then he remembered just how exhausted Gary had been during his exams. As much as he hated it, his brother needed the sleep more than he did.

"Alright, I'll go with you. Mom's probably still busy with Molly, right?"

Billy nodded. "And dad's already left. Courtney checked the coatrack and his coat is gone.

Great, just what I need.

He walked past his siblings to the second bedroom, now hearing the wails of a baby from his parents' bathroom. Jordan was indeed throwing things around. His expression was somewhere between annoyed and slightly amused. Gilroy gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why are you throwing Mr. Snooze and Bella around?"

Jordan shrugged. "I'm just playing."

Count to ten, Gilroy, count to ten…

"It's not nice to play with someone's toys when they didn't say you could play with them. You should play with your own toys."

"But I wanted to play. And mom said she wouldn't tuck me in again until she was done with Molly."

"That is not an excuse to steal toys. If Molly wakes you up and mom can't put you back to sleep, you should quietly play with your own toys."

Jordan slumped his shoulders. "Okay…"

Gilroy smiled at him. "Now, go give Mr. Snooze and Bella back to Billy and Courtney."

Jordan nodded and waggled over to get the teddy bear and unicorn plushy of the ground. He held them up to his older siblings, who gratefully took them. Gilroy nodded.

"And what do you say?"

"…I'm sorry."

"And?"

"…I won't do it again."

"And what do you do next time this happens?"

"I'll play by myself. With my own toys."

"Quietly."

"I'll play quietly."

Gilroy gave a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, do you guys want to sleep or shall I make breakfast?"

Billy immediately crawled back into bed, but Courtney nodded.

"I'm not tired. Let's eat!"

Gilroy smiled and looked at Jordan. "Do you want to eat too? Or do you want to sleep?"

"Eat."

"Alright, then let's go make some breakfast. But be quiet, Billy and Gary are sleeping."

The two kids nodded and tiptoed out of the room. Only when they were out of sight, did Gilroy rub his temples. "This is gonna drive me insane one day."

Well, at the very least, Molly had stopped crying. His sleepiness still weighting on him like a sack of bricks, Gilroy trudged to the kitchen to make breakfast.

By the time he was done, he had to remind Courtney and Jordan to remember not to shout or make a lot of noise and his mother plopped clearly exhausted in her seat.

"Thank goodness John remembered to set the table…Gilroy, honey, do you mind hanging up the laundry, cleaning the toilet and bringing Courtney and Billy to school today? Thanks."

He didn't even protest. He was too tired. And it wasn't worth a fight anyways. He got up as soon as he was done eating to hang up the laundry. Better to do the easiest things first.

Gilroy decided to take a quick shower after cleaning the toilet. As the warm water sputtered on his shoulders, he could feel his muscles relaxing. For a moment, he was alone.

"Open the door! I wanna pee!"

…Well, the five minutes of peace were nice while they lasted. Gilroy quickly finished scrubbing his body and dried himself in record time. Hoping he wasn't too late, he opened the door.

By the scent of it, he was too late. Jordan looked at the ground.

"…I did an oopsie."

Gilroy put on his best fake smile. "Well, let's get that cleaned up then."

When he was finished, he wondered whether he could still take a quick five-minute nap. The clock said absolutely not.

So much for sleep today.

He quickly packed his bag and after some consideration, wrote a small note for Gary.

"Hey dork, sorry to dump this on you but I have to drive Courtney and Billy. Can you clean up the table after you're finished eating? Thx."

Putting the note on his desk, Gilroy shot one last glance at Gary before walking to the front door.

Courtney and Billy were already waiting, Billy still having breadcrumbs on his face. Gilroy stopped to wipe them off before taking them outside to his car.

Thankfully, the siblings didn't argue like usual about who wanted to sit where. Gilroy could only guess they were tired too from being woken up early. Sinking into the driver's seat, he realized just how tired he felt.

This is gonna be a long day…

-Opal Valley, Emerson House-

"Jaylin! Do you have everything?"

"Yes mom!" Jay shouted back, hurriedly finishing his hairdo. He quickly sprinted from the bathroom to his room to check his bag.

Deodorant, ID, homework… Yup, everything's here.

Swinging the bag onto his back, he tried not to hurry too much as his mother walked down the stairs to give him a hug.

"Mom, first day already went by. You don't have to worry so much."

His mother waggled her finger. "Now, now, worrying is what moms do. Now, go out there and have some fun. See you later!"

Reminding himself that she was just trying to make both him and herself happy, Jay nodded and walked out the door.

He was a bit surprised to see his sister Monica sitting on the swing, enjoying the warm sun on her face.

"Um, aren't you supposed to be going too?"

"My class has an excursion to an old bell tower for history. School figured it would be easier if I just got to stay home for today. My history teacher will make a replacement assignment. Probably another essay."

Jay grinned. "Lucky you then."

Monica smiled back. "Depends on what you call 'luck'."

"I suppose so. Well, gotta go. Enjoy your day off!"

Monica waved him goodbye as he walked down the path and closed the gate behind him. He checked his watch to see he didn't have to run to make it in time for school. Almost tempted to whistle, Jay headed down the street.

"Watch out, badass coming through!"

Jay quickly jumped aside, just in time to miss the skater whooshing past him. The girl, recognizing him, stopped in her tracks and easily kicked her skateboard in her hands.

"Yo, nerd. Ready for the match today?"

"Yeah…just…don't go ahead and rushing in…like last time."

Amber rolled her eyes playfully. "Sure nerd. Anyways, I heard from a friend whose friend is the janitor's daughter that we're gonna have another group project coming up. Wanna team up?"

Jay laughed, more out of nervousness than anything else. "The teacher could pair us up with other people, you know."

Amber pouted. "I hope not. We're a pretty good team. You do the research, I present it to the class."

"That may be the exact reason why Mr. Longrun would want us to work with other people."

"Tsk, party pooper. I'll get us to work together one way or another."

Jay wisely refrained from saying anything. By then, they had entered the school grounds. Amber saw a few of her friends hanging around and quickly left him by himself. Deciding to get his books already, Jay headed for the lockers.

Just as he opened his locker, someone next to him made a noise. Jay looked aside to see a small boy, probably a freshman, waiting for him.

"Hm?"

The boy's face went pale. "Never mind."

Faster than late student, the boy had run away. Jay looked at the lockers below his and guessed the boy wanted to get to his locker, but got cold feet when he saw him using it. Well, it's not like he blamed the boy. Jay stood 6'7 inches tall and had broad shoulders to match. It wasn't the first time he ended up intimidating someone.

Trying to not feel too bad about it, Jay collected his math book and slumped through the hallway to the first class of the day.

Once again, he was one of the first to arrive. Ignoring the two potheads in the back, he sat down and took out his books. Being early was terrible. Waiting until the first period starts, with nothing to do. He could begin working on the next chapter, but he didn't want people to see him as a nerd. He was already the loner of the class.

He finally decided on playing games on his phone to spend the time. Slowly, classmates trickled in, loudly talking about boys, games, sports, girls and weed. But it wasn't until the teacher walked in that Jay put his phone away.

"Alright class, I know we have a big game against Nimbus High tonight, but please curb your enthusiasm until lunch break."

Jay heard several people behind him make sounds of pure disappointment. He honestly didn't care enough to join them. Sure, he liked playing on the team, but it was never going to become something permanent. Just a way to keep himself in shape and his parents happy.

After shushing the class, Mr. West began his lesson on geometry. As good as Mr. West was, he was unfortunately accompanied by both a boring subject and a droning voice. Jay struggled to both pay attention and focus on his notes.

Something hit his back.

Jay immediately turned around to see what and who it was. The guys that sat behind him chuckled. He looked down. One of them had thrown a ball of paper at him.

"Mr. Emerson?"

As if struck by lightning, Jay immediately turned around. Mr. West was glaring at him.

"Could you tell me what the value of X is?"

Great. He thinks I wasn't paying attention. That was probably what Jonas and his gang were trying to do. Get his attention so the teacher would call him out.

Jay looked at the blackboard. The parallelogram wasn't even that hard. The answer was 22. He knew it. He knew the answer. He only had to say it. Say it out loud.

Just say it.

"Well? We don't have all day."

"…22?"

"That is correct. Now try to pay more attention or even you might fail the upcoming test."

Jay's cheeks burned as half the class chuckled. This is gonna be a long day…"

-Opal Valley, Nimbus High-

Cerise quietly fixed her shirt as she stood outside the classroom. She needed to make a good first impression. First impressions were vital. It would depend what kind of people would approach her and consequently, which people would end up being her friends.

She had wondered about the amount of make-up she should wear. If she wore too much, she'd look fake. Not enough and she'd look lazy. She needed to get that precise, professional in-between. No nonsense, but approachable.

I hope I didn't go overboard with the mascara.

"Miss Lebow?"

Cerise looked up. The teacher was standing in the doorway, smiling at her. "Could you step inside?"

She nodded. "Yes. And it's Lebeau, not Lebow."

Ignoring Mrs. Stanton's apologies, she stepped inside the classroom to look at the people she was going to be spending the year with.

It seemed fairly typical. Some girls dressed fashionably and whispering to each other, two Goths, a few boys with caps on their tables, at least one geek and a guy sleeping on his desk.

"Well, introduce yourself!"

"My name is Cerise Lebeau. I have moved here very recently, which is why I am joining your class a little later in the year. I hope we can be on good terms."

A girl in the back raised her hand. "Are you French? You have an accent."

"Yes, my family is originally from France, but I was born and raised in America."

One guy grinned at her. "That makes you a Frencian."

A bunch of people laughed. Cerise could already feel her reputation plummet. So much for precise planning.

Trying to keep her cool, she finished her introduction. "Once again, I hope we can become on good terms with each other. Feel free to ask me any questions."

Mrs. Stanton nodded. "If you are finished with your introduction, you can take the seat next to Mr. Roger."

Instantly, the class looked at the sleeping guy. Someone behind him poked him. The guy startled awake.

"What—"

"Mr. Roger." Mrs. Stanton said sternly.

"Oh, uh, sorry miss. Guess I nodded off a little…"

Cerise walked to her seat and sat down, putting down her bag and talking out her stuff. The guy next to her scraped his throat.

"Uh, I'm Gilroy. Gilroy Roger. You're…new, right?"

"I'm Cerise Lebeau. Nice to meet you." She said, a little cooler than she intended.

The guy before her turned around. "Aww, don't be so stiff. We're a fun class."

Gilroy sighed. "Don't bother with Erwin. He's a real idiot sometimes."

Erwin huffed. "Jeez, so much for trying to light the mood at little." He turned away from them, focusing on the teacher.

Cerise shook her head a little, before paying attention to Mrs. Stanton.

The lesson went well. Mrs. Stanton talked about the sun. And if Cerise was a little honest, she was quite intrigued.

"Now, sunlight actually takes just 8 minutes to arrive on earth, which is extremely fast given the distance between earth and the sun…"

A small noise interrupted Cerise's concentration. She looked to her side to see Gilroy slumped over his desk, fast asleep again. It was kind of weird, honestly. He had already been asleep when she got here and now he was asleep again?

"Yeah, he does that a lot."

She looked up. Erwin gave a small nod in Gilroy's direction to confirm he was talking about Gilroy.

"Gil's a great guy, just tends to sleep through class."

Cerise noticed Erwin's book was a page behind, and his paper was filled with doodles instead of notes.

"You're not paying attention either."

Erwin shrugged. "I don't get what's so important about Geography. If you ask me— "

"What would I ask you, Mr. Walker?"

He quickly turned around, paling as Mrs. Stanton crossed her arms.

"Oh, well, you see…"

"If you can't be bothered to pay attention now, hopefully you will have more focus in detention."

"Dammit…"

Still frowning, Mrs. Stanton looked over to Gilroy.

"AND MISTER ROGER CAN ACCOMPANY YOU!"

"Wah! Ah, what? I, I'm awake!"

Cerise didn't even face him. "You have detention."

"Of course I have…"

The rest of the Geography class went by without a hitch. Soon, she found herself putting away her things and her new homework to head for lunch. And just as soon, people wanting to know more about her surrounded her.

"So, what is Paris like?"

"I've never been to Paris, actually." She answered as she walked down the hallway, trying to remember the way to the cafeteria.

"But, you're French, right?" A girl frowned.

"Not all French people are from Paris. France is large."

"Then where from France are you?"

"My family is from a small town in southern France called Descartes. It's named after a famous French philosopher."

"So that's why you have such nice skin! Lucky you, I wish the sun shined more here."

"I know right! France must be so nice to live in."

"You do know I wasn't born in France, right? My parents moved before I was even born." Cerise reminded them. "I just have an accent because my parents speak with one."

A boy cocked his head at her. "You don't know French, then?"

"Yes, I do, I'm just saying I've only been to France once to visit family, that's it."

She just got a few weird looks. She sighed internally. This is going to be a long day…

-Opal Valley, Nimbus High-

"This sucks!"

"It may be, but the longer you complain, the longer this is gonna be." The janitor snarled.

Erwin grumpily sat down on his seat.

"The match against Solar Academy is tonight. I can't miss that!"

"Then you should've paid attention in class!"

Growling, Erwin slumped over his desk. The match of the month and I can't be there to see it? Ugh, what a dud. Why did I have to try and get friendly with that newbie? My life is over.

Outside, he could see Gilroy frantically talking on his phone.

Well, at least Gilroy's gonna be here too. He may be a bit of a bore, but it's better than nothing.

"Now, you better go do something useful! Go do your homework or something."

And at the very least, I can get a chance to finish my drawings.

Reluctantly, he took out his books. He opened the history book and read the first line of the chapter he was supposed to be doing.

"The 5th century officially marked the end of the Roman Empire. The empire had been ruled by a succession of weak emperors, which-"

Boring. Let's see which doodle I can finish today.

He opened his notebook and quickly stumbled upon a particular drawing of a truck. Oh yeah, so gonna finish that.

Taking out his pencil, he carefully made sure the janitor wasn't paying much attention and then started working on shading the truck.

The light should come from the headlights…so if I shade like this…

BANG!

Startled, Erwin cursed under his breath as his pencil suddenly struck across the paper, leaving a thick trail that ruined his painstakingly careful work. He glared at Gilroy, although he seemed too frustrated to notice.

"Dude, what the hell?" He hissed at him.

"Mom insists I have to pick up Billy and Courtney. But now that I have detention, it's gonna take a while before I'm out. They will have to wait for me. And of course, I'll get blamed by the teacher for not being on time."

Erwin blinked in confusion for a moment, before he remembered that Billy and Courtney were his little siblings. Kind of hard to forget when he keeps complaining about them.

Gilroy placed his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. The sight of him was almost sad enough to make Erwin pity him and just sad enough to get over his ruined drawing.

They continued sitting in silence, neither sure what to do now, until suddenly, noises erupted from the hallway. Grumbling, the janitor got up.

"What now?"

He took a small peek outside before turning to the two boys. "Well, well, looks like the Solar team is here. I'm gonna go help them. You better make good use of your time."

The janitor slammed the door behind him shut. Erwin listened closely, waiting until he no longer could hear footsteps. A whole minute went by before he deemed it safe and then grinned at Gilroy.

"Dude, this is our chance!"

"…A chance for what?"

"To escape, duh!"

Gilroy eyed him. "You do realize you'll get in trouble the next day for this, right?"

Erwin shrugged. "Eh, tomorrow's Friday. I've got all the time in the world then. No match to worry about. Now, do you wanna stay here and wait or will you come with me?"

His detention-mate seemed to think about it for a few seconds, until he cut the knot with a nod. "Yeah, can't let Courtney and Billy wait."

Erwin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead focused on the door. Just as he expected, it was locked. He smiled. Locks were no problem for him. He kneeled down and took out a few hairpins. With the precision of a surgeon, he started picking the lock.

"Since when do you know how to pick a lock?"

He kept his eyes on the lock. "Ever since I started getting detention."

Bingo!

The door unlocked and Erwin quickly pocketed the hairpins. He carefully looked through a gap in the door, checking if the coast was clear. He gestured to Gilroy to follow him and then nonchalantly walked through the door, trying not to put any attention onto him.

Works every time.

With a grin, he turned to Gilroy. "Alright, now let's go see—"

Gilroy was gone. Erwin cursed under his breath and ran down the hallway, hoping he wasn't too far away.

To his luck, Gilroy was just walking to the entrance. Erwin quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him around the corner.

"Dude, again, what the hell?" He hissed in annoyance.

"I should be asking that." Gilroy said. "Look, I appreciate you helping me, but I've got to pick up—"

"Don't you get it? There is a guard by the entrance. He knows which people have detention so he can catch them sneaking out. And I'm not really that concerned about you, but if he sees you, he'll find out I got out too. And I'd rather not hide in the girl's locker room again."

"You did WH—"

"Shush!"

Getting his thoughts together, Erwin took a deep breath and grabbed Gilroy by the shoulders to make sure he'd listen. "Look, I know a few ways out of here, but you have to trust and listen to me. We'll go to the stadium, I'll show you the way out and we never speak of this again. Deal?"

Gilroy stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, likely weighting his options. When he finally realized he wouldn't get anywhere without Erwin, he nodded.

"Deal. But don't take too long, I have to get going as fast as possible."

Erwin internally gritted his teeth and nodded back. "Sure, sure. Now follow me and make sure you're quiet."

Oh boy, this is gonna be a long day.

-Opal Valley, Nimbus High-

Amber was absolutely, positively and bunny-on-hardcore-steroids excited! Nimbus High and Solar Academy were rivals from the day the schools were built and because of that, every match was guaranteed to be awesome. No boring 'friendly' matches or bored spectators, but cutthroat rivalry and giant shouting matches. Exactly the kind of atmosphere to that made a match extra exciting to watch.

Especially when students climbed over the railing and started fighting the players. Hardcore yo.

"Alright girls, now from the top!"

Amber focused her attention back to the squad's leader and got back in position.

"Sunny skies and bright strategy!

You will win, Solar Academy!"

Following her leader's moves, Amber continued chanting, keeping a big bright smile.

"Burning rays and lots of booze, we are sure that we won't lose!"

Immediately, the rest of the girls stopped and looked at her weirdly. Amber looked back.

"What?"

"Amber, could you please stop trying to be funny? We have a team to cheer on and a reputation to keep. Laugh in the locker room. It's time to be serious."

She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "Sorry, won't happen again."

"Alright…now, girls, again from the top!"

A few of the girls glared at her for one last moment, but then they all got in position to start chanting again. It was at these days that she wondered why she bothered joining the cheerleading team.

"Extension!"

Oh yeah, for the crazy stunts.

Still annoyed she wasn't allowed to stand on top, she lent her shoulder to the girl who climbed on her. Trying to keep her pose, she watched as more people started taking their seats in the stadium and more people clapped for them. The weight on her shoulder was heavy, the stadium lights were hot and having people watch her gave more pressure than she ever wanted to admit. She was really getting thirsty from this.

Should probably get some water before the match starts. Hurry it up Rebecca!

Her patience was rewarded. Her team captain signaled them to break the stunt and get a break. Already sweating a little, Amber made her way over to her bag. She dug around for her water bottle and put it to her lips the moment she found it.

It was empty.

Curses! Now I have to get it refilled. Maybe if I'm quick, I can fill it before we start.

She shot a quick glance over her shoulder. No one was watching her. The perfect chance. She slipped out of the doors to the stadium and turned a corner. No one called for her or came after her. Success.

"Yes!"

Her cheer was short-lived when she realized she had no idea where the bathrooms were.

Whelp…didn't think that through.

To her relief, two boys who looked like they were from Nimbus High strolled through the hallway at that exact moment. Thanking her luck today, Amber walked over to them.

"Hi! Can I ask you something?"

The boy in the red shirt jumped and panic went through his eyes. The guy with the dark green pants next to him chuckled.

"Chill, it's just a Solar cheerleader. What can I do for you?"

"I'm just looking for the bathrooms."

Red shirt frowned. "Don't the girl's locker room have bathrooms?"

Amber snorted. "Yeah, but the sink's too shallow to let me fill my water bottle. Plus, one of the girls is probably using it right now."

"Well, don't know if the girl's bathrooms are the same, but the boy's sinks are bigger and there is a water fountain to refill bottles." Green pants pointed over his shoulder. "Just take the next turn left and you should see it."

"Thanks a lot!" Amber shouted as she ran in said direction. To the boy's credit, he was right. She could immediately see the bathrooms and headed straight for the girl's. As if her luck couldn't be any better, there really was a refill point. Whistling her team's cheer, she filled up her bottle to the brim.

Just as she was about to head back, the stall door opened to a pretty girl with dark hair and a pink skirt. She eyed Amber as she washed her hands.

"I assume you're a cheerleader for the so-called 'big game' today?"

Amber crossed her arm and smirked. "Come on, even you Nimbus girls must admit the fights between Nimbus and Solar are epic."

"I'm new here, actually, so no, I can't admit that."

A Nimbus not into watching our rivalry? Not on my watch!

"Then let's change that! Come at least see the cheerleader stunts. We've put lots of work into it."

"No thanks, I'm good. I wish you and your team luck though."

"Thanks, but still, it's very fun and you can leave when you want! Nimbus vs Solar is the most epic games to watch around here!"

"I'm more interested in going home for today."

"Without even taking a glance? Not even curious? Jeez, that's cold. You could at least watch the Nimbus cheerleaders. You look like you could be one. Then we can be rivals!"

The girl turned to her, glaring. "Why are you so interested in me?"

Amber shrugged. "Because you're new to the rivalry? Because I like talking to people? Because I don't like losing out on opportunities?"

She blinked at her strangely. "Do…you always do this with people?"

"Well, I met a lot of friends through things like this, so, yeah."

For a moment, she was silent. But then she shook her head. "Go bother someone else. I'm not interested in you."

The girl walked out of the bathroom. Amber felt a little bit sad. But then she heard more voices.

"Cerise! There you are! Come on, we have to get good places for the game!"

"Wait, but I—"

The noise went softer, until they were out of her earshot.

Well, guess I'll be seeing her after all then. Weird, she does have a point. Haven't been interested in someone since a long time. And she's even new here! I wonder…

Then, she realized she was just standing around. Oh crap! I have to get back to the others before the game starts! This is gonna be a long day…

-Nimbus Stadium-

The stadium filled itself up, and as it did, more and more noise came from it. The people cheered, booed and yelled. The cheerleaders went through their routine, the movements slick and practiced. The players started entering the field, both teams greeted by encouragement and threats. The spectators screamed at their most hated and favorite players.

It was the perfect place for an attack.

Unaware what was about to happen, the players got into their position. The referees walked the field up.

"And remember! Play fair!"

The whole stadium held their breath in anticipation. The lead referee brought the whistle to his lips.

FTTTTTTTTT!

The players moved…only a few steps before they stopped.

Confused murmurs went through the crowd. Right before they noticed the ground was shaking. Before anyone could even yell about an earthquake, the ground split open…and a monster emerged.

"Haha! So my ears didn't deceive me! This place is crowding with humans!" The mole-like monster bellowed, a hungry look scanning the players and the audience. "This will be an easy job! Newans, attack!"

For a moment, everyone looked at each other, not really knowing how to react to this strange new mascot. But then, an army of monsters, colored in grey, black and white tones, with terrifying teeth rose from the hole their leader had created. Swords and metal knuckles shone in the afternoon sun. They ran up to the players and at that moment, everyone scattered.

Pleased with himself, Gold Mole looked at how the other Newans slashed at the humans, punched them and generally caused terror.

"Master Diao will be very pleased with me. If this keeps up, I'll surely be promoted to general."

One Solar field player dodged an incoming punch as he tried to find his friend. He found her kicking the sword of another monster away. Somewhere else in the stadium, a girl ran as far away from the monsters as she could, cursing her chosen footwear. Not much further from her, two boys tried their best to avoid the attention of both their teachers and those new monsters.

Things looked bad for them. Everything looked bad for the humans. Gold Mole laughed. Nothing could stop him. No one could stop him. Soon, humanity would tremble at his feet.

Victory was assured.

He laughed harder when several Newans rose their swords, ready to kill those pesky humans.

His laugh was cut short when the stadium lights flickered and then bathed him and the rest of the place in blinding white light.