It was a usual afternoon in the clubroom and all the chaos that entailed. Hang was playing his first game of Smash with the others. He lost all three of his stocks in record time. This, of course, elicited a lot of teasing from his peers, but all that stopped when someone he didn't recognize entered the room. A light grey man, clutching a drawing. He looked back and forth, nobody saying a word, least of all him. He walked to the center, turned to the right, and pinned it on the wall right next to the card table with multiple other drawings. He then stepped away and most of the room crowded around it to see what it was. It was an incredibly detailed picture of a knight fighting a dragon, done entirely in green ink. He tried to leave but Thomas noticed him backing away and grabbed him.

"HEY, MIKE!" He shouted, "AREN'T YOU GONNA SAY HELLO TO THE NEW GUY? HE JUST PASSED THE ENTRANCE EXAM TWO DAYS AGO!" Hang sheepishly waved at "Mike", whose only response was to push Thomas away and run out the room.

"Who was that?" Hang asked Kyle, "And how does he draw so well?"

"That's just Michael. He's kinda shy, like you, and he's reaaaally quiet, like Corey. As for the second question, you've got me there. He's got to be the best artist in the whole school! I've heard jokes that it's a good thing he doesn't compete in the school's art competitions because nobody else would have a chance!"

"Is he a Defender or does he just drop by, like I did?"

"Oh, no, he's a Defender. He just doesn't like to hang out with us a lot. Introverts."

The rest of the day was largely uneventful for Hang, save picking up a few mentions of a party happening soon. He didn't ask further about it, however. Night fell and most of the others went back to their dorms for the night. Waqas retired to his workshop and Andrew started his night patrol. Hang took his usual spot in the clubroom and quickly drifted off to sleep again. That night, he dreamt he was on stage in front of a large audience and holding a microphone. He had no idea what to say, what to do, so he opened up with a nervous cough.

"So, uh... how do you feel about penguins?" A question that made perfect sense to him at the time.

Then suddenly, an earthquake struck, rocking the entire building. Hang quickly opened his eyes to reveal it was only Kyle shaking him awake. In the middle of the night. With Thomas right by him.

"Hey, dude, wake up. We're sneaking out!"

"Whuh?" Hang took a few more moments to fully wake up. "But we can't do that! That's against the rules!" He took a book from the junk shelf right by the door, "Didn't you guys read the full Defenders' Code? It's on page," he flipped through the book, unable to find the page he's looking for, "uh, on page... It's in here somewhere alright? It says we can't leave during the night unless it's an emergency! We have to be ready for an invasion, especially at night!"

"Psh, what are we in, elementary? We can take a short break off. Besides, there's still like sixteen of us in here, who's gonna take over with that many of us here?" Kyle excused.

"Besides, it's only against the rules if you don't get caught!" Thomas told them, already lifting up a window.

"C'mon, there's somewhere really cool I wanna show you," Kyle lifted Hang up by the hand and hopped through the window after Thomas. Hang hesitantly followed the other two, trusting in what Kyle said. Once outside. Kyle led them off the campus and into a forest. After taking around five minutes going through the woods, Hang decided to speak up.

"Kyle, I think we're lost."

"No, no! We're really close now, I know it! I come here all the time."

"If you come here all the time, why do we have to do it at night? I can barely see where we're going!"

"Because..." Kyle trailed off as they finally arrived at their destination, a great big field in the middle of the forest with a beautiful sky full of stars twinkling brighter than Hang had ever seen them. He was awestruck by the night sky's beauty.

"It's the only time you can see these babies," Kyle continued, "Welcome to Galaxyrise, the place where the stars shine the brightest in Virginia!"

"It's so beautiful!" Hang exclaimed and tried running out into the field. Kyle grabbed his arm before he could do so and dragged him back behind a bush. "What gives?" He questioned.

"Bear with me for this next part; have you ever heard about witches?"

"I've seen them in books and I did a report on witches once back in middle school. Why?" To answer his question, Kyle lifts Hang's head up and he sees multiple mystical-looking people convening in the field, wearing white capes and around half of them wearing matching skirts. They bring many items to the center of the field, organize them into a meticulously chaotic pile, and begin chanting while surrounding it.

"Whoa, this is so cool!" Hang whispered excitedly.

"Hey, Kyle, I think that's your girlfriend over there!" Thomas said, pointing to one of the witches in the side of the enchanting circle facing them.

"Sssshut up!" Kyle protested.

"Well what are you waiting for? Call her over!" Thomas encouraged.

"Alright alright, I'll do it! Kyle shook the bush a little, which seemed to catch the witch's attention. She quietly broke from the enchanting circle and hovered over to them.

"Heeeey, Mallory..." Kyle nervously greeted her. He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. Hang froze up, unsure whether to run away or to take a picture.

"Hey Kyle, it's been a while. Thanks for visiting me again," Mallory told him with a smile and a luminescent blush. "Uhh, what's up with your friend? Oh, is this the new guy you were telling me about?" She leaned into Hang excitedly, causing him to scurry back a bit.

"Yep, this is Hang. You'll have to excuse him for being shy. He's never seen a real witch before, let alone been so close to one," Kyle explains.

"Oh! That's quite alright! Kyle was like that too when we first met!" Mallory explained to Hang.

"Sssshut up!"

"AHEM. Forgetting someone?" Thomas piped in.

"Hello, Thomas..." Mallory greeted him in an unenthusiastic tone.

"S'up, honeybunches."

"Don't call me that.

"So, I uh, brought this for you," Kyle handed Mallory a chocolate truffle wrapped in orange foil.

"This is for me? Thank you!" She took it with glee. "Is this the one with the nut in the middle?"

"Yep, made sure to get it just for you!"

"That's so sweet! Here, I have something for you too!" Mallory presented Kyle with a pink, glowing flower.

"Wow, this is incredible! Where'd you get this?"

"That's my secret!~" Suddenly, Mallory quickly looks back, "Sounds like they're finishing up. I have to go now. Thanks for coming again." She kissed Kyle on the forehead and rejoined the enchanting circle. Once they were done, they took their things and separated again, Mallory leaving with two bigger looking witches, one with a skirt like hers and one without.

"Didn't know witches could have parents. Or that witches could be male," Hang mused once they left.

"Dude, when are you just gonna start going out already?" Thomas asked Kyle.

"I-"

"Oh, don't even start this time! Chocolates? Flowers? She even kissed you for crying out loud! You two are SO hot for each other! Just go ahead and ask her out already!"

"...What if she says no?"

"Impossible! Completely impossible!"

"Hey guys, can we go back now, I'm getting kinda tired again," Hang requested.

"Just a few more seconds. You haven't seen what that enchanting circle did yet."

"Really? What did it do?"

Right on cue, giant reeds sprouted around the field and fireflies took flight from them, lighting up the night sky even further. Hang was once again awestruck by the sheer beauty of the place.

"Alright, NOW we can go home."

The trio left back through the forest the way they came, their way now lit by dozens of fireflies.

"Hey, I know I was hesitant at first but thanks for taking me out here, I really appreciate it," Hang told Kyle.

"No problem man, I wouldn't let you miss this for anything! Everyone's gotta see it once in their lifetime."

They entered campus grounds once again and neared the Slusher building. Hang tried to swipe his Defender-class ID card in the front door but Thomas grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"They log you swiping the card, we return through the clubroom window."

They went to the side of the building and then turned the corner again to the back of the building, where they instantly saw something that made their blood freeze.

"Hello. You got caught," an angry Andrew told them.

"Heeeey Andrew," Kyle squeaked out, "We were just taking Hang out to-"

"Nope. I don't want to hear it," Andrew shut him down, "It's bad enough you keep disobeying me, but to sneak out on the night before Stewart, Dan, and Bri's graduations?! That's low."

"Wait, that's TOMORROW?!" Hang asked.

"Ohhh right, I forgot about that..." Kyle admitted.

"Not to mention-"

"We took time out of your already very tight sleeping schedule, I know..." Kyle finished for Andrew.

"Then why do you keep doing it!?" Kyle just looked back wistfully. "Ugh. Forget it. Just go back in there, we'll talk about this tomorrow." Kyle nodded shamefully and left for the front door. "And you, Thomas-"

"Yeah yeah, you don't have to tell me, I'm going," Thomas told him and left somewhat less shamefully.

"Good. And as for you," Hang tensed up as Andrew pointed right to him, "...Since this is your first offense, I'll let you off with a warning. But don't do it again."

"Understood." Hang said and went to follow the others with his head hung.

In another part of town, an off-duty security guard for Slusher took a walk while talking into an earpiece.

"Yes, it's tomorrow. Three of them. Three of them are graduating. Yeah, I'm like 90% sure they're gonna throw a party," he talked into the earpiece. "What are they going to get? Come on, they're college kids! You know what they're getting! Some ice cream, a boatload of soda, a few bags of chips..."

He stops right in front of a pizzeria called "Giuseppe's Pizza". He looks inside through a window and sees a pink man with a dead-inside look loading up some pizzas onto a delivery moped.

"...And a lot of pizza."

The End.