Mika continued to drive her scepter deep in the wolf creature. Blood spurted from the gash Mika made into the creature's forehead. The red liquid colored Mika's skirt, shirt, and face. The monster's eyes blared with anger and pain as shook his head from side to side, trying to release the weapon. MIka held on tight as the monster continued to try and free himself. The creature ran forward and rammed Mika against the wall. Mika's back was becoming crushed against lockers and she was having trouble breathing. Mika struggled to move but her body was being pushed on the wall. Mika drove her bladed scepter deeper into the creature, forcing it to release it's grips. Mika fell to the floor, coughing and hacking for air. The creature approached Mika and blew it's hot breath on to her. The monster bared it's teeth at the young girl as saliva dripped onto the tile floor. Suddenly a door was opening up down the hallway. It was the front door to the school. The creature saw this happening and begun to back away from Mika. The dark shadows were being sucked away by some type of mystical force. The creature dissolved into the shadows and in a instant, all of the darkness disappeared. Mika looked over at the door to notice a girl's shoe poking through the door and then the rest of the body. It was Lily. Lily looked around the hallway until her eyes fell onto Mika sitting on the floor. Mika quickly picked herself up as Lily approached her.
"I was just going to ask you if you could pick up my book from the..." started off Lily until she looked down at Mika's clothes. Mika stared at Lily until she noticed Lily was looking down at the blood on her body.
"Lily, I..."
"Why didn't you tell me? It happens to all of us once in a while. How you got it all over your clothes is beyond me." said Lily as she dug into her bag. A puzzled look came over Mika's face. Mika was suprised that Lily was taking the blood on her clothes so lightly. Lily burrowed into her bag until she pulled out what looked like a tampon. Mika look became even more confused.
"Here. This should plug up that leak." said Lily with a smile as she handed Mika the tampon.
"Uhh..thanks Lily."
"No prob. That's what best friends are for."
After Lily grabbed her book, the two girls made their way out of the school. They walked down the front stairs and down the street. The late autumn breeze blew their hair effortlessly in the wind. They took the path down the street until they reached a stoplight.
"Hey Lily? Im going to take a different route home today. Is that ok?" asked Mika as they waited for the light to turn green.
"What? Ok Mika, something is going on. Where are you disappearing to? Everytime were together, hanging out, you end up leaving! If you're seeing a guy, you could just tell me. I'm not you're Mom..." replied Lily as she turned away.
"Uhh...yeah. He's a really nice guy. Good job and great looks. I'm sure you will meet him later. I've gotta run. So I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"Mika, wait..."
"Oh and thanks for the tampon. I really needed it!" shouted Mika as she crossed the street, leaving Lily behind.
Mika's friend stood on the corner, watching her run down the street and down a back alley. The wind blew Lily's hair around and into her face. The streetlight had already turned green and was now at red again. Lily stood there trying to figure out what had just happen. 'Where is she going? Why is it everytime were togetther, she jets? And what was with all that red stuff over her? Mika told me her period was three weeks ago... What is going on here?' Lily thought to herself. Her mind begun to swirl from the thoughts that flowed through her head. Lily was feeling as if Mika was ditching her for a new friend. She finally snapped back hearing the sound of the light changing. She crossed the empty street by herself and walked home.
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Mika took the alley further down until it emptied to a street that had a connvenient store. She went inside and grabbed a couple of groceries before heading back to the alley. Mika continued down the alley until it took he to a dirt path. The dirt path snaked through parts of the woods and onto the outer edges of the city. The path led Mika into an abandoned working district. Old factories and warehouses stood and wasted away in the deserted landscape. Mika stop in front of a grey warehouse, where a huge padlock was placed on it. Mika took a key from her bag and slid it into the lock. With a double twist, the lock became loose and the door was now unlocked. She slid the sheet door open, letting light flow into the building. For the most part, the building was empty except for a few articles of furniture laying about. In the middle of the empty room was a set of computers placed into a semi-circle. Sitting at the computer was a young man, typing away. He turned his head around, just peak at who was entering the building. He had spiky brown hair that stood up to one side and emerald green eyes that could capture anyone's attention. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue vest with a white shirt under it.
"Close the damn door!" yelled the guy at the computers.
"Would you quit cursing, Eron! Maybe a girl would actually go out with you if you didn't talk like a dirty pirate!" said Mika as she walked in and placed the groceries in a fridge on by the wall. The young man made a frown at Mika. He then turned around and went back to typing.
"So are you still lying to your friend?" questioned Eron from the computers. Mika's mood changed when Eron brought this. She thought about how she left Lily standing on the corner. She started to say something, but stopped the words from leaving her mouth. 'I wish I didn't have to keep things from everybody...' thought Mika as she walked over to Eron. She came behind Eron to look and see what he was writing. While looking at the screens, she suddenly remember what happen to her in class.
"This is for earlier!" shouted Mika as she struck Eron on top of his head.
"What the heck did you do that for?"
"Now I remember! You called me during one of my classes! On top of that, I was attacked by a freaking wolf-beast!"
"Oh really? Did you kill it?"
"Not really. It got away before I could finish it off. My friend walked in, so creature disappeared. What I don't understand is how it entered the school. It was like it came from nowhere..."
"What did you expect? I told you in the beginning that the dark monsters can come from anywhere. Now even more creatures are slipping from the realm everyday. I tracked about six in the area this morning. Plus what are you talking about? I didn't call you." stated Eron as he typed away.
" What?"
"Uhh...I said I didn't call you. Maybe the boss did." said Eron keeping his eyes on the screen.
"Kane? He knows I'm in school. He would never ca..."
"I did." said a voice behind the two. Mika turned around and saw a older man wearing a grey button shirt and and black slacks and captivating black eyes. His short black hair was pulled back. He walked over to the fridge and then to the couch to sit down. Mika moved in front of where he was sitting.
"Why did you call me, Kane?" asked Mika with her arms crossed.
"I needed to show you this. You might want to move over." said Kane pointing a remote over at a projector that was behind the couch. The machine started up and a image appeared on the wall. Kane clicked twice and the image turned into a map with small blinking pointers on it.
"Do you see those? These are the monsters that were being tracked last week. Now take a look at this." said Kane as he clicked the remote again, showing three times the amount of blinking lights, "This is just what was tracked since the beginning of the week. Our area is being overrun by the dark creatures. The only defenders out in this region is Mika. So I've decided to recruit new operatives."
Mika and Eron stopped what they were doing when they heard the boss say the last line. Eron spun around in his seat and almost knocked his keyboard on the floor.
"New operatives?" asked Eron as if he didn't hear Kane.
"That's right. New operatives. I figure Mika could use more back up while she's out there so I'm appointing three new members."
"Where are they coming from? New York? Italy? Toyko?" questioned Mika.
"Thats what I'm about to explain. All of the operatives are untrained and they will probably need some convincing to join. The good thing is most are in the area. Here are their profiles right here." said Kane as he clicked the remote again. Three picture profiles popped up on the wall. When Mika saw the names she nearly fell back. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. The three names were lined above each picture: Lily Takishu, Akou Polijo, Gen Kalbui.
"What the hell! You want Lily to be a Defender! There is no way thats going to happen!" shouted Mika.
"Too bad. I can't let you go out there by yourself. I mean look at you now." said Kane as he looked down at Mika's clothes. Mika looked down at her shrit and skirt, almost forgeting about the faint blood on her clothing. She looked back at Kane with a crooked smile.
"Yea, just as I thought. You don't have to worry about anything right now, but tomorrow you and spunk over there are going to be training the new guys. See you later." finished Kane as he left the room. Eron and Mika sat there, not knowing what to do next.
"At least you won't have to lie to your friend anymore. You two could go out there and fight monsters in your little school uniforms and I could video tape it." said Eron in a teasing voice.
"Shut up, perv. The only people I know from those three are Lily and Gen. The bad thing is that Gen thinks I'm weird. Plus I have no idea who Akou is. That name doesn't even sound real!"
"That sucks for you. What kind of name is Akou anyway?"
"Shut up! You're name doesn't sound real either!" said Mika as she knocked Eron onto the head.
"OW! If you continue to do that, I going to sue you for battery!" said Eron rubbing his head and then assuming a serious tone, "Besides, how does the boss know that they're even going to join? When I first heard the story about Garmi Realm and Regenbaum, I thought the boss was on drugs or something. How do we know that these guys won't act the same?"
"I guess you just have to have trust. Trust that they will be believe you." said Mika looking up out a window and then over at Eron. She turned her head back over to the window. Eron watched her before giving his own response.
"Trust, huh? If you say so." replied Eron as he leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the ceiling.
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