Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, it took me a few moments to fully remember what was going on. Looking around the room, my new room, it quickly came back to me. Oh that's right, I've been trapped in another dimension and am now currently obligated to clean up after 'duels' with magical cleaning implements. Oh right, and apparently I'm not human. In other words, it's been quite a busy day for me.

"Good morning."

I turned to Sponge, who was standing in the doorway, "Morning." Apparently I was more tired than I originally thought, as it took me another few moments to fully comprehend what was going on. I was currently sitting on my bed. In my underwear. With a teenage boy staring at me from the doorway. The open doorway. I couldn't fully understand why I wasn't screaming at him in mortification. "What are you doing here?" I smiled at him. A sweet smile, but ultimately filled with malicious intent

"I got your uniform," he motioned to the blue and yellow lump of material hanging from his arm.

"Mhm," I nodded in acknowledgment, "Sponge, do you notice anything wrong with this picture?" He didn't reply; I'm pretty sure he was trying to figure it out. Let's see if he gets it. He stared at me, I stared back.

"Like what?" Was his only reply.

I offered him another 'smile', "Like the fact that I'm sitting here in my underwear?"

He stared at me for another few seconds before it finally seemed to click, "Oh I get it!" Sponge stood there for a little while longer, "Oh, right." He chuckled nervously and quickly left the room. I shook my head in disbelief. I thought all teenaged boys were supposed to at least react when they see a half-naked girl. I looked down on my body, perhaps I just wasn't developed enough for him. Or I'm just too young for him. Yes, that's a good explanation as any. I mean honestly, what would a teenage boy want with a middle school girl? I paused in thought. Am I not good enough for him?

Why am I even thinking about this?

I picked up the uniform; it definitely looked like something a janitor would wear. A janitor with school spirit from the look of the colors. I think I remembered seeing others outside wearing something similar to this, though the colors were different. I assume that the colors were of their choice. But how did they know I liked blue and-? Oh right, they've been watching me for months. I shuddered; it was rather unsettling to know that someone's been watching you for so long. Though it was also kind of baffling that they never managed to pick up my name through all that. I shook it off and quickly slipped into the uniform.

I evaluated myself in the large bathroom mirror, balancing on the edge of the sink. Personally, it wasn't something I would want to wear when going to school. But I had to admit, I actually kind of liked it. A blue jacket made of a semi-thick material and snap on buttons was neatly tucked into pants of the same material and color. A yellow belt divided the area between the shirt and pants, preventing it from looking like a jumpsuit. The buttons, collar, and cuffs of the outfit were yellow. Three pockets were aligned on either side of the buttons, with snap buttons of their own. The outside and lid of the pockets were yellow as well. It was a bit gaudy, but even then.

I hopped off the sink and headed toward the door. I grabbed my "magic mop", thinking I was probably going to need it. Sponge had been leaning against the wall when I stepped outside. His thumbs were interlocked with each other and his hands were making a flapping motion in the air. A soft hum was audible under his breath. "Is that supposed to be a bird," I asked in reference to his hands.

"What bird?"

"The one you..." I trailed off, noticing his hands were back down to sides, "Never mind."

He stared at me for longer than I was comfortable with; awkward silences seemed to be the norm for this guy. I almost let out a sigh of relief when he finally said something, "So anyway, I'm here to give you a tour of the Between and 'show you the ropes' if you will." He motioned for me to follow, "Come on, we're going to Unicorn Way." He zoomed off, emphasis on the zooming; he had already disappeared somewhere by the time I realized he started moving. If he honestly thought I could have followed him... He came zooming back as fast as he left, "Why didn't you follow?"

"You left to fast!" I defended myself, "There was no way in hell I could have caught up."

"Why didn't you use your mop then?" He sounded confused.

"My mop?" I raised an eyebrow in question. Last night's conversation suddenly came back to me. "Oh yeah, didn't you say something about being able to ride our cleaning tools didn't you?"

"Did I?" He sounded confused, "Did I also tell you how to ride them?"

I swear to God, this guy was on something. I shook my head, "No, I have no idea in hell how to ride this thing." I waved my mop in the air for emphasis.

"Ah, I see," Sponge nodded emphatically, "It's really easy." Assuring words from a less than assuring person. "Since it's a mount, you, well, you mount it." I gave an internal chuckle; I could have figured that part out. Obviousness aside, I obliged with the instructions. To say I felt stupid holding a mop between my legs was an understatement. "Now just lift your feet off the ground." The instructions were simple enough, but acting on those instructions would be a bit more difficult. I lifted up the first leg, but while trying to left my other one, I put the first leg back on the ground; this continued for quite a number of seconds. I didn't doubt I looked pretty idiotic hopping from one foot to the other. "Are you okay?" Sponge asked.

"I'm fine!" I snapped back, the anger behind my tone coming from my annoyance with him, myself, and this stupid mop. Honestly, what was I so afraid of? My skin was way to tough to let a few foot drop even skin me. The falling part however... I shuddered. I could almost feel my stomach rocketing into my throat. I took a deep breath and tried to assure myself that the drop would be very small. Clenching the handle, I finally kicked up both my legs. The mop bobbed slightly, but otherwise remained airborn. The elation I felt in my chest was near indescribable. Sure I was only a few feet in the air, but what kid didn't dream of flying at least once in their life? A sudden realization hit me, "How do I steer this?"

"Hm? Oh, it doesn't need to be steered," noticing my confusion, or at least I think he was, Sponge continued, "A mount that isn't a living creature can't work unless it has someone to use it. For example, if you got of your mop and let go, it would just drop to the ground. Since your holding on to it, the mount connects the little magic it has in it's system to your magic. To an extent, as long as you hold on to your tool, it's a part of your body and will move as naturally as your arms and legs. In other words, your tool goes wherever you need it to go." I barely understood how I was able to move my own limbs, and now I had an extra one? I don't think I'll be able to figure this one out. "Now come on, you can keep up now," Sponge quickly turned heel and sped off.

"Wait I-!" I wasn't even able to complete the sentence before he dissapeared from sight once again. Okay, so this thing was supposed to move as naturally as the rest of my body right? So go forward my magical mop of wonder! Nothing happened. Forward I say! Nothing. Forward damn it! A few more moments of absolute nothingness passed. Forget this. I hopped off the mop and sprinted like hell after Sponge.

"Oh, there you are," Sponge waved at me when I finally caught up, "What happened to riding your mop like I taught you?"

"It wasn't working out for me," I passively waved it off.

"What wasn't working out for you?" He tilted his head to the side.

I raised an eyebrow, "Riding my mop."

"What about riding your mop? You can do that you know, want me to show you how?"

My eye twitched, "You just showed me... Nevermind. No thanks, it's fine."

He shrugged, "Suit yourself." Sponge turned to the tunnel in front of us, "Just past here is Unicorn way, where I'll show you how to clean up after duels." I nodded in acknowledgement. I had to admit, I was pretty curious to see how these "duels" worked. Walking through the tunnel, he went on, "Unicorn Way is usually the place new wizards start off, since the monsters around here are relatively weak. The same goes for new janitors, since the weaker attacks are a lot easier to clean up after." Oh, that made sen- Wait, what about monsters? My mouth hung open when I saw what he was reffering to. Just over the grassy hill, numerous ghosts, at least that's what they looked like, were wandering the streets. My mouth went dry and my eyes widened. Sponge seemed to notice my expression, "Considering your from a place where monsters don't exist, it's perfectly understandable for you to be fearfu-"

"That's so cool!" I screamed in delight. All those years of watching illegal horror movies and paranormal research shows couldn't compare to this! Regardless of what these spirits were doing, just to be able to see one in real life was exilerating. I ran over to get a closer look at one of them. Looking it over, I noticed something, "Hey Sponge! There all wearing the same cloak as you!"

Sponge floated over, "The design is similar, but no. I'm not wearing a soul cloak."

"Then what kind of cloak are you wearing?"

He didn't respond, I wouldn't be surprised if he had already forgotten what we were taking about. "Oh, a duel! Come on, Calamity!" He yanked me away from the spirit.

"My name isn't-" I stopped short when I finally saw the duel he had been talking about; it actually looked pretty cool. A person in funny clothes stood on one side of what I assumed was some kind of circular "playing board" and a soul stood on the other. The person was very slowly raising what looked like some kind of wand.

"Come on, he's just about to cast a spell," Sponge pulled me onto the 'playing board', "As I may or may not have mention before, the Between's time moves about five times faster than regular, which makes it a lot easier to clean up after battles. However, it can be especially tedious to wait around for the duelers to cast their spells. So when cleaning up a duel, we are able to control the time flow within the space. For example," he casually waved his hand and the wizard with wand suddenly sped up to a more normal speed. My heart nearly jumped out my chest when a large blue snake appeared out nowhere. I watched in awe as the snake hissed at the spirit, right before sending a spur of electricity from it's tail at the ghost. The snake disappeared as suddenly as it appeared and with a slight flick of his hand, the scene froze. "This is where the cleaning part comes in, see that stuff over there?" He pointed to the slightly singed ground, "Watch me." Sponge floated over to the singe marks. Suddenly dropping in height, it took me a moment to realize the sponges he had been wearing were now touching the ground. He's really short, isn't he? The disbelief that this guy was actally older than me grew once again. Sponge skated across board, the marks disappearing behind him as he did so. "We also have to be sure to clean off the players as well. Even if the player is about to lose," He proceeded to lift his leg and press the sponge he had on one of his feet against the spirit and clean the large black marks on it. I stifled a laugh, he certainly was flexible though. Another flick and thee scene sped back up, the spirit disappearing from sight along with the "playing board". The funny dressed wizard was already "running" in another direction.

"Since your still a trainee, it would probably be best if you didn't do any cleaning right away," Sponge put in.

"Sure, whatever. I can wait," I shrugged. As cool as it was to see real monsters, I never really did enjoy cleaning. I looked up, something catching my eye. "Uh, Sponge, I think those people are staring at you," I pointed at the the group of three a little way off. One off them looked like they were motioning us over. "I think they want to talk to you."

"It's looks like it, doesn't it?" He remarked passively, "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment." He quickly floated over the people who had beeen calling him over.

I looked around, a few battles were occuring and seemed to be going on off at rather random speeds. Is that what had been going on while Sponge and I were cleaning, I couldn't help but wonder? I turned back to look at where Sponge had gone off too. The people around him looked quite a few years older and none of them seemed very happy. I wasn't very surprised, from the little time I've know him I already knew Sponge's tendency to inadvertantly insult people. Honestly, what has he done- My thoughts were interrupted when one of them picked him up by the throat. What the hell's going on over there? I sprinted over, "What the hell are you doing? Let him go!" They looked at me in surprise, but nonetheless let him down.

"Come on guys, he isn't worth it," the girl coaxed them away. As they left I thought I heard one of them mutter 'sick bastard' under their breath.

"What happened?" I asked, my heart beating faster than normal.

"Nothing, just a bit of a misunderstanding," He shrugged nonchalantly.

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Misunderstanding? They were looking at you like you killed a baby."

Sponge paused and let out a slight laugh, "What a way of putting it. Ah well, it doesn't matter now. Come on, I'll show you a few more battles before we leave."