As the dusk started to turn into night Elizabeth was walking home, her mind in a complete daze.

She couldn't stop thinking about the party she had attended earlier with Anthony and the others. It felt nice.

After all with her reputation and her general personality people tended to avoid her just on principle. And Elizabeth was fine with that.

At least she thought she was.

But after meeting Anthony and the others she just didn't know anymore.

That's precisely the reason she rushed out at the end of the celebration earlier. She wanted some time alone, to clear her mind.

'I wonder, can I really call them all friends.?' Elizabeth thought. 'No, better yet will they even ever think of me as a real friend? After all I…'

Stopping for a moment Elizabeth shook her head to get rid of her current train of thoughts. She really didn't like where they were going.

Then once her head was clear Elizabeth resumed her walk home.

But as she did she passed by an alley. And this alley contained a group of rough-looking females. The kind even grown men would be a little scared of messing with.

As Elizabeth passed by these girls one of them looked up at her for a moment. A look of recognition appearing across her face for an instant.

"Hey, you guys, don't we know her?" The girl suddenly spoke to her friends.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Another girl said.

"I'm talking about the blonde that just passed by." The girl responded. "I'm sure I've seen her somewhere before."

One of the other girls, curious, peaked out from the alley, and caught a glimpse of Elizabeth's face.

A look of recognition passing over her face as well.

"Damn, she's right." The girl looking at Elizabeth said. "It's her. The one who crushed the boss."

All the girls had looks of shocks on their faces upon hearing their friend's statement.

"What, but didn't she disappear or something?"

"She did for sure."

"It doesn't matter. This is our chance. Let's get her and avenge the boss."

"Yeah!" The other girls exclaimed in unison.

They then started following after Elizabeth.

"And that's the entire story." Anthony finished.

He and Cera had just finished explaining their experiences against Nina and Emilia in their entirety to their friends.

Who were having various reactions.

Eric was fine. Since he believed Anthony before he had no trouble believing Cera experienced the same thing.

Christina was still skeptical. Even after seeing Cera's new card. Still she was leaning towards believing her friends.

As for Sylvia she was in complete and utter disbelief.

She had her brow furrowed. "You guys, you're messing with us right?"

Cera and Anthony deadpanned at Sylvia.

"No, we're most certainly not." Anthony said.

"We really aren't." Cera added. "Besides, who could make this stuff up?"

"Ok, but still, it doesn't make any sense." Sylvia retorted. "None of it at all. From the way you're talking you're making it sound like planet Cray is a real place."

"That is a possibility I considered." Anthony said completely serious. "But until we meet with Nina and Emilia again we're basically stumbling around in the dark."

"Ugh." Sylvia groaned, rubbing her temple with her fingers. "This is all too much."

"And let's not forget the elephant in the room." Eric spoke up.

"What might that be?" Christina asked.

"Nina and Emilia might not be working alone. They could have allies," Eric explained. "And if they know what Nina and Emilia know, then we'll need to be extra weary of them."

Everyone contemplated Eric's words for a few moments, realizing he was right.

"Ok!" Christina suddenly exclaimed. She walked over to the cardshops only whiteboard and dragged it over in front of everyone. She then picked up its marker and started writing down information on it. Before turning around and slamming her palm onto it.

"So here's what we know," Christina began. "Anthony and Cera had a cardfight with two mysterious girls named Nina and Emilia. We don't know their motives, but we know they challenged Anthony and Cera because they're some sort of chosen or whatever. We don't know what that is as well, but we do know this. Nina and Emilia used units no one else has ever seen before to defeat Anthony and Cera, and during the cardfights both had visions depicting units from and scenery from planet Cray. Then after the fights were over both of them found themselves in possession of units no one else on the planet has as far as we know. That sums just about everything up."

Everyone nodded.

Anthony then realized something. "Oh, and something else. I think that both Nina and Emilia will compete in the upcoming World Tournament."

"Huh, what makes you think that?" Sylvia questioned.

"Nina told me I had to get stronger and said we would be seeing each other soon. Then the day after she says this the World Tournament is announced. A strange coincidence if I've ever seen one." Anthony explained.

"The same for me." Cera added. "I just had this feeling Emilia will appear before me again sooner rather than later."

"If that's the case we can expect one more member on their team if they are in fact connected." Eric added. "Wow, this just keeps getting better and better," he sarcastically mused.

"Yeah, but we can't really do anything about it." Cera spoke up. "We have no leads and no more relevant information until those girls appear in front of us again. So for now we should just wait and see."

"Really, it's the only thing we can do." Anthony said.

Everyone else nodded.

They could all feel in their guts that strange times were ahead.

"Get her!"

"Don't let her escape!"

"You think you can run you little bitch!"

Elizabeth ignored the words of the girls chasing her and just ran faster and faster.

She was not expecting this at all.

In fact for her it was one of the worst situations she could be in. That's why as soon as she noticed those delinquent girls trailing after her she had taken off running and hadn't stopped since.

She was just glad she was in her home neighborhood when she noticed them. Otherwise she might be in deeper trouble.

Turning a corner Elizabeth found herself in a narrow alley. She then quickly looked around, and found a solution to her problems. So she acted without haste.

The delinquent girls following Elizabeth turned around the corner she had entered just a few moments ago. But when they did they couldn't find her at all.

"Eh, where did that bitch go?!"

"No idea, but she must've run on ahead."

"Then let's go!"

"Yeah!"

The girls shouted in unison as they ran down the alley, chasing after Elizabeth.

But they were in the wrong.

A few moments after the girls had left the alley the big trash can in it rattled. Then it's lid opened revealing Elizabeth.

She had chosen to hide in the trash can. Despite the smell it was giving off.

Sure no trash was in it. But even so Elizabeth could smell herself, and knew she had the scent of rotten fruit in her hair.

Still in her mind it was a small price to pay for avoiding those girls that were chasing her.

She really didn't want to deal with them.

No, rather she knew the real reason she had run away from them. She was running from her past. A past she didn't want to face. Elizabeth knew she couldn't run from it forever but she still tried.

She had been trying for a number of years.

But it looks like the bell tolls for all.

"Ah, I guess this is what I get." Elizabeth murmured. She then put a depressing smile on her face.

She then just stood in the alley she was in not moving at all. But after a few moments Elizabeth did move, and that's because she started to feel water droplets hitting her hair and skin.

"Rain huh?" Elizabeth mused. "Wait, wasn't it raining that day too," she mused once more. "It was."

Elizabeth looked down at the ground, and was thankful that it was starting to rain. Because if it wasn't people would start to notice the tears starting to steam down her face.

Sitting on her bed in pajamas Elizabeth looked at her ceiling with a blank expression on her face.

Once she had lost those groups of girls in the alley she didn't encounter them again. Which she was grateful for. Because she was in no condition to deal with them.

After it started to rain she started to cry, and was on auto-pilot all the way to her home. She made it thankfully, but the emotions that had been stirred up were not leaving her. Thus she was left in her current state.

'Maybe this team thing is a mistake.' Elizabeth thought. 'After all, do I really deserve to be on a team when I'm hiding so much from those guys?'

Elizabeth contemplated this in her head for what felt like hours.

She was looking for an answer but couldn't find one.

That is until she turned on her side on her bed and her eyes landed on a picture frame. One she treasured more than anything else.

Elizabeth continued looking at that picture for a few moments, and while doing it, it brought a smile to her face.

It was then Elizabeth knew what the right decision was.

She sat up on her bed. "Ok. Let's do this." She said to herself.

Elizabeth then got off her bed and grabbed some things from her dresser before heading out of her room.

Standing at the counter of Victory Anthony handed over a card pack to a young man with his mother. "Here you are and please, come again."

"Thank you." The child said.

He and his mother then left, just as Eirc came in and walked up to the counter.

It was a training day for the team. Now they were just waiting for Elizzabeth to arrive and they could get started.

"So, have you seen her since that night?" Eric asked.

"No." Anthony said, shaking his head.

Ever since that night Elizabeth ran out of the party they held she hadn't been to school. Which had been going on the past week. Anthony, Eric, and everyone else started to worry about her. So they called her, but she didn't answer.

Which only made them more worried.

But just the other day she texted them telling them she was fine. So they stopped worrying about her so much. Still, they couldn't stop wondering what had affected her so much.

"Huh, I really hope she's ok." Anthony murmured, resting his chin on his hands, as his elbows rested on the counter.

"Yeah." Eric mused. "Even though she grates on my last nerves, I still think of her as a friend. And besides, how are you two going to become a couple if she keeps avoiding you?"

"What?!" Anthony exclaimed. He looked at Eric in shock, but all he got was a cheeky smile. "What are you even saying right now?"

"Oh, so you two weren't flirting during that cardfight you had to determine her joining the team?" Eric questioned.

"Hell no." Anthony said. "We were not flirting. And I don't like Elizabeth like that. Besides, didn't you say she was a dangerous delinquent."

"I've changed my mind. Now I only think she's a bad girl. And for you a bad girl is perfect." Eric mused.

"Shut up." Anthony grumbled.

"Sure, sure, lover boy." Eric joked.

Anthony sent him a dirty look but he ignored it.

As the two were doing this someone entered the cardshop and walked right up to them.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Oh Elizabeth no pro-" Anthony stopped mid-sentence once he got a good look at Elizabeth.

Eric was also left speechless.

That is because Elizabeth's appearance had changed. Instead of her hair being a light gold, it was now pure obsidian in color.

"Am, sorry but who are you?" Eric questioned.

Elizabeth gave him a deadpan look. "Ha, ha, very funny." She sarcastically said. "But please cut the jokes, failed playboy, it's me Elizabeth."

"So what happened to your hair?" Anthony directly asked her.

"Oh nothing." Elizabeth mused. She then took a few strands and started playing with them between her fingers. "I just wanted to go back to being myself a bit, so I changed my hair back to its normal color."

"Wait, wait, so you're saying that golden hair was a dye job?" Eric questioned.

Elizabeth nodded.

"Wow, I couldn't even tell." Anthony said.

"Yeah." Elizabeth said. "The salon I go to does a really great job. But like I said I didn't want it anymore. I want to move forward, and this is how I'm doing that. Along with being a part of the Victories."

Anthony and Eric smiled at Elizabeth's words.

It looks like they were finally starting to turn into a real team.

"So, since you changed your hair back to normal does that mean I can call you Ellie now?" Eric asked with a grin.

"Not on your life." Elizabeth deadpanned at him.

Only making Anthony sigh.

In a dark alley a number of girls were pushed onto the ground.

A number of other shadowy figures standing above them.

"So, who gave you permission to enter our territory, huh?" A feminine voice asked the girls on the ground.

"We didn't mean to." One of the girls said. "But we saw your boss walking around, and wanted to confirm that she was back. That's all we swear!"

"Wait, what now?" The feminine voice asked. "You say you saw our boss?"

"Yes." All the girls said.

"Ok, then. Tell me everything." The female voice said.

Anyone who heard her could hear the anger in her tone when she spoke those words.

A/N

That's chapter six folks.

Next time: Anthony's and Christina's leisurely day is interrupted by a certain disturbance that needs to be put in its place.

Anthony is more than ready to do so.

Standing up to a Bully