"Taiana, wake up!"
At the sound of a child's voice, Taiana groaned and rolled over.
"Come on Taiana," the child called, shaking her, "breakfast is almost ready!"
Taiana slowly opened her eyes. "Jessie, I'm tired. What do you want?" Taiana asked through a yawn.
"Breakfast is almost ready," Jessie repeated, "and Laura wants you to go to the store afterward."
At those last words, Taiana sat straight up. Today was the day when the Negaverse had attacked before. Jessie left and Taiana got dressed quickly and went downstairs to get breakfast.
She entered the kitchen and sat at the table among the other orphans. Laura, the head mistress of the orphanage, sat a plate of pancakes in front of her. She poked at them for a while and ate a little bit.
"Taiana." Taiana looked up from the syrupy mess on her plate. "I need you to go to the market for me and pick up some eggs."
Taiana sighed. Being the oldest member of the orphanage, she was always volunteered to go to the market or help cook dinner or take care of the younger children.
She got up, scraped her breakfast into the trash and stuck the plate in the sink. Laura handed her the money and Taiana was about to leave.
"Can I go with Tai?" Jessie asked Laura.
"No," Laura said.
Usually, Taiana didn't like the younger children to tag along, they were hard to watch and slowed her down. But today was turning out too much like the day the Negaverse attacked and Taiana would rather have Jessie to with her. Besides, out of all the children, Jessie was the nicest and was Taiana's only friend, even if she was only seven.
"Come on Laura," Taiana pleaded, "let her come with me. She'll be good." Jessie's face lit up when she heard Taiana arguing for her. She thought of Taiana as a big sister.
"Well..." Laura said thinking.
"Please!" Taiana and Jessie begged in unison.
"All right," Laura agreed, "but if you give Taiana any trouble you're not going with her again."
"I'll be good," Jessie promised, and they left.
Taiana was surprised at how good Jessie kept up with her. Whenever she had taken the other children with her, they would lag behind and get into everything. They got to the market and Taiana bought the eggs and they started home.
Taiana was nervous. She kept imagining that shadow passing over the sun. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice when the sun actually did disappear. She was brought back to reality by Jessie gasping. As soon as she realized the sun was gone, she jerked her head toward the heavens. There, stretched across the sky like a giant iron cloud was a Negaverse battleship. One the underside of it was a black, upside-down crescent moon.
She stared for another few second. Then without warning, Jessie screamed. Taiana's eyes fell from the sky and landed on the sight that had caused Jessie's scream. Coming down the street was a herd of Negaverse monsters. Taiana dropped the eggs, picked up Jessie and ran towards the orphanage. She kept expecting the strange woman to jump out and give her her Transformation Pen, but she never did.
Taiana and Jessie reached the orphanage and ran inside quickly. Laura approached them quickly.
"Taiana, what's going on?" Laura asked. Taiana struggled to catch her breath.
"Th-the planet is under attack!" Taiana managed.
"Taiana, what are you talking about?" At that precise moment, a scream from the street drifted in. Laura ran to the window and looked out. A few seconds later she turned to Taiana, fear in her eyes. "Help me get the children to the attic."
Taiana grabbed Jessie's hand and ran upstairs. She got all the children that were upstairs and led them to the hallway where the entrance to the attic was. She jumped up and grabbed the chain hanging from the ceiling, pulling down a hidden flight of stairs.
"Go," she said to the children. They started up the stairs.
"What's going on?" A little boy asked.
"Wait until Laura gets here," was all she said. She followed the children up the stairs. She grouped them all into the center of the attic, then turned to go.
"Where are you going?" Jessie asked, grabbing her hand.
"I have to go make sure Laura and the rest of the kids are all right," Taiana told her.
"Please don't leave me." Taiana looked down at Jessie. She was on the verge of tears. Taiana wasn't sure what to do. Luckily, Laura entered the attic, leading the rest of the children. She pulled the stairs shut behind her.
"What's going on?" The little boy asked again.
"Sssh," Laura shushed, "You have to be quiet. The planet is being attacked by the Negaverse." The children began murmuring and the little ones started to cry. "Please, children. You must be quiet, if they hear us, they will capture us." The children fell silent, their eyes wide with fear.
A sudden crash downstairs caused everyone to jump.
"I'm scared Tai," Jessie whimpered.
"It's okay." Taiana hugged her. "I'll protect you." If only I had my Transformation Pen!, she thought. Taiana shivered as she heard the monsters milling around downstairs. She could hear them snarling and growling. The sounds kept getting closer until they were right under the hidden stairs.
"I guess no one's here," a monster said.
"Wait," another monster growled. Taiana heard someone sniffing. The stairs came down suddenly. All the children began to scream and run around madly. Five monsters entered the attic. Taiana tried to fight, but was thrown into the wall. She started to get up, then collapsed as the darkness enveloped her.