First, I have to give props to kiki-sama for being my first reviewer (Wild Cheering). Secondly, I only own Ria, and any other OC's that may appear. Finally, this story is PG-13, but it might receive a higher rating for language. All right, time for chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Magical Ria

…Flash…

Ria was cleaning up the Gas-N-Go, getting ready to close for the night, when a man in a ski mask walked in, 9-mm trained on her heart. She opened the cash register, and quickly handed all of the money to her assailant, but he did not leave. The young woman stared at him, trying her level best to keep from screaming, and as she watched, he slowly pulled off his mask. The thug's face suddenly changed from a human one to the same creepy visage that the monster had, and he reached across the counter and grabbed Ria around her throat…

…Flash…

Auron was standing in Yunalesca's chamber, rage and grief running through his veins like raw lightning. The swordsman felt a scream tear its way out of his throat as he charged the ghostly summoner, who had killed his two best friends. He felt indescribable pain as Lady Yunalesca struck him down for his defiance…

…Flash…

Auron awoke to a strange beeping sound emanating from something near his head. He sat up and looked around, confused at his surroundings until he remembered the previous night's events. The beeping started up again, and the ex-guardian picked up the cordless telephone and gave it a suspicious look. Finally, Auron pushed the Talk button, and put the receiver to his ear, not knowing what to expect.

"Hello?" a strange female voice called from the other end of the line.

"Yes?" Auron replied with a note of uncertainty.

"Who is this?" asked the stranger.

"You called me, so you tell me who I'm speaking to," answered Auron.

"Is Ria there?" the voice asked, ignoring his command.

"She's here, but you can't talk to her until you tell me who you are," he told her.

"Okay, okay!" the voice relented. "I'm Ria's boss, Marion, and I really need to speak with her."

Auron went to Ria's room, and walked in without knocking on the door beforehand. "Ria, someone wants to talk to you," he announced, holding out the receiver.

When she didn't answer, he walked over to the bed and took a closer look at her. The young woman was tossing and turning in a nightmare, and seemed to be struggling against something. Full of concern, the swordsman laid one hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. "Ria, wake up. Someone wants to talk to you and they said it was important."

Ria woke up in a panic, and with arms and legs flailing wildly about. She let out a muffled shriek, and smacked Auron in the face, but she didn't have any leverage, so it wasn't a knockout blow. Ria screamed again, but this time all the furniture in the room shuddered violently. Auron finally dropped the phone and grabbed her around the shoulders. "Ria, calm down," he ordered, his voice brooking no argument.

Finally, the girl realized where she was and looked up at her bodyguard. "Jesus Christ!" she swore. "Auron, I'm so sorry I hit you."

He didn't answer her. Instead, he picked up the phone and handed it to her. "Here, someone named Marion wants to talk to you."

Ria took the receiver and put it to her ear. "Marion? Are you still there?"

"Ria? Girl, what's happening over there? I thought I was about listen in on a murder!" her manager shouted.

"No, I was just having a nightmare, and Auron snapped me out of it."

"Who? Oh, you mean that weirdo who answered the phone."

"Yeah, that's him," Ria chuckled, and then sighed. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about that was so important?"

"Ria, do you think that you could come back up to the store for a little while?" Marion asked.

"Why? It's my day off."

"There's an officer up here who wants to speak to you about last night."

"What? All right, tell them that I'll be there in a few minutes."

When Ria got off the phone, Auron asked her, "Are we going back?"

She nodded, "Yes, because a police officer has some questions he wants to ask me about what happened last night."

"And he couldn't come out here?" he replied in a doubtful tone.

"No, he can't because this house is outside the Manson police department's jurisdiction. Now, are you going to leave, or do you want to stay and watch me change clothes?"

Finally, Auron gave up and left the room so Ria could put on some blue jeans and a t-shirt. When she finished, they locked up the house and headed back to town. They had been riding for about five minutes, when Ria realized that her car radio was off and flipped the switch. Suddenly, the smooth sounds of System of a Down blared out of the speakers, and startled Auron.

I don't think you trust in my/Self-righteous suicide/I cry/When angels deserve to die…

She sang along for a moment, and turned the radio off again with an apologetic glance in her passenger's direction. "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that you're not used to this kind of thing."

When he didn't reply, the young woman shrugged and started humming to herself. The song she sang had a haunting, soulful melody, and Auron stared at her in complete surprise. "Where did you learn that song?" he asked her, keeping his voice level.

"I don't know, I guess I've always known it, because I remember hearing it when I was really small. Why, is there a problem with it?"

"No, it was just…surprising…that's all."

The two of them finished the ride in silence, and arrived at the store a few minutes later, only to find that a large, black Escalade was blocking the pumps. Ria put her little car in park, turned it off, and got out to confront the Escalade's owner. "Excuse me, sir," she said, "But you're blocking the gas pumps, and if you're not going to put any gas in your car, then you need to leave."

The offending person was a tall, heavy-set, black man who seemed to think that he was "The Man", and he gave Ria a baleful stare. "I'll stand here all day long, if I feel like it, and just what is a fat, white, cracker bitch like you gonna do about it?" the man demanded, his voice full of belligerence.

Suddenly, Auron walked up and put himself chest-to-chest with the stranger. "She's not going to do anything, but if you don't get in your machina and leave, then I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life." His tone was the same one that he had used on the monster from the night before.

The two men continued their staring match for a long moment, when a police officer stepped out of the store, and said to the black man, "Joe, you've already got a rap sheet as long as my arm and you know I'll have to take you in if you hit that guy."

Joe considered that, and finally backed down. "You'd better watch yourself, 'cause I'll get you one day," he muttered at Auron.

"I'm looking forward to it," the swordsman smiled coldly.

At that, Joe let out a stream of blistering curses, got into his Escalade, and left. "Auron, I'm glad you enjoyed that little testosterone festival, but I think we need to work on your communication skills," Ria commented. "All right, let's get this over with."

They followed the officer into the store and he introduced himself. "Ria Summers? I'm Sergeant Graham with the Manson Police Department, and I need to ask you a few questions."

She looked at Marion, who just nodded, and said, "All right, what did you want to talk about?"

Sgt. Graham flipped open his little notebook and cleared his throat. "Last night, we received a call from the house down the street from here, saying that there were screams heard. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"Yeah, considering that I was the one who was screaming." Ria replied, her voice taking on an edge.

"Well, could you tell me what happened?"

"I closed the store, took out the garbage, and was attacked by one of the monsters that they've been showing on the TV."

"How did you get away?" Graham was now oozing curiosity.

"Auron saved me."

"Auron?" the officer looked over at him. "Does he have a last name?"

Ria wracked her brain, and quickly came up with one. "Bevelle, his name is Auron Bevelle."

Graham wrote that down, and then asked, "Why didn't you call the police after the attack, Ria?"

"Yeah, right!" she snorted contemptuously. "Help me! Help me! I've just been attacked by a fearsome monster! You'd have had me committed to the nuthouse if I made a phone call like that!"

Suddenly, Marion let out a scream and Auron tackled Ria to the floor, just as a shockwave shattered all of the windows to the store. There was a loud screech from outside, and a thud as something large landed. Everyone got to their feet, and what they saw was astounding. Their assailant was the size of a small house, and had dark brown feathers that deepened to black along the spinal ridge and wings. Its green eyes glared balefully at them, and its toothy beak gaped open as it screeched again. "It's a Zu: strong, but not very bright," Auron said as he pulled out his katana and stepped outside to face it.

"Where the hell does he keep that sword?" Graham incredulously asked Ria.

"I have absolutely no idea," she replied.

The giant bird launched itself back into the air and fired another shockwave with a flap of its massive wings, knocking Auron to the ground, and tearing the pumps off their foundations. Marion quickly punched the button that shut off the gas valves, and the fuel that had begun to fountain up stopped flowing. "We need to get out of here, now," the manager cried, and Ria and Graham followed her lead.

Auron whipped his sword around in a vertical slash, but he only scored a minor hit on the Zu. It, in turn, fired off yet another blast, this time causing the overhead canopy to collapse, crushing the front half of Ria's car! Graham tried to call for backup, but discovered that his walkie-talkie was destroyed when he fell on it, so he pulled out his gun and helped Auron instead. A moment later, the now-ruined car exploded, knocking everyone to the ground again, leaving them open to the fiend's attack.

Sadly, Sgt. Graham was the one who suffered, because the monstrous bird caught him while he struggled to his feet, and quickly ate the police officer. The Zu then turned to Auron and attempted to devour him, but was thwarted when Ria stabbed it in the leg with a piece of broken glass. The fiend, now angry, turned around and lunged at the girl, but something amazing happened. Ria threw arms over her head, fully expecting to die, when a pale blue-gray light suddenly obscured her vision. Suddenly, a surge ran through her body, and the surrounding temperature dropped dramatically as a cloud of ice exploded around the Zu's head. The bird stepped back, let out a decidedly unmusical squawk, lumbered back into the air, and flapped off.

Auron stared at Ria with open disbelief on his face. "I didn't know you were a mage."

"Me…neither…" she gasped, and then fainted.

She awoke a few minutes later, and the swordsman handed her a bottle of purple liquid. "Here, drink this," he ordered.

Ria eyed the bottle dubiously. "What is it?"

"It's called Ether, and it will help restore your magical energies."

The young woman drank the stuff, shuddered, and said, "I don't know how you can stand that nasty junk."

She got to her feet, dusted herself off, and looked around. More police had arrived, along with the fire department, and an ambulance. "Where'd the big chicken go?"

Just then, Marion walked up and replied, "It flew off after that cloud hit it, and I think the rest of the police are chasing it down."

"Well, it looks like the Gas-N-Go is now officially out of business, so what are we going to do, now?" Ria wondered.

"I don't know about you, but I'm packing up and moving back up north," Marion turned to leave, but stopped and said, "Why don't you and that good-looking friend of yours become monster hunters?"

"What?"

"Yeah, you two seem like you'd be good at it. Well, good luck, my friend." That being said, the former manager of the Gas-N-Go left Manson forever.

Ria turned back to Auron, who had been silent during the exchange, and he said, "It's not a bad idea, you know. Of course, you'll need some training in your powers, first."

"Obviously. But before that, we have to do something else."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"We have to get home, and since my car has been destroyed, we've got a long walk ahead of us!"

Well, there you have it! A fresh chapter hot off the Anasazi Express, and on your screen. You all know the drill: review and tune in on the next chapter.