Lexia dialed a number on her phone number, almost immediately getting a greeting. "Yes, can you connect me through to John?" As Lexia made her phone call, Aryl and Caren tossed a rock they'd found lying on the ground between the two of them, not stopping to think about what would happen if one of them failed to catch it. Kiri, Moiyu and Jay were talking, not really about anything specific, but then again, when did they ever talk about anything specific?
Unknown to them, Lycoris watched from a bench not too far away. She'd switched to human form and bought a magazine at a newsstand. Now, as she pretended to read the magazine (which she didn't find all that interesting anyhow) she wondered why the group was just standing around and not DOING anything. Of course, she got her answer a few minutes later when a car pulled up and a man got out.
"Hey Lexia." He said, approaching Lexia, who hurried over and gave him a hug.
"John, you're a lifesaver." Lexia said. "Literally."
XXXX
Coco glanced up as she heard a door open. A pink haired water demon that she'd never seen before walked in and took a seat in the chair that had been previously occupied by a different water demon.
"Isn't it cold in there?" the girl asked, a few minutes after entering. Coco was surprised to hear her talking.
"You're not supposed to talk to me." Coco said, her voice hoarse from disuse. "You'll get in trouble."
The girl shrugged, "I don't care. It's not like I want to impress Gaito or anything. He can punish me anyway he likes and I don't honestly care."
Coco was surprised. Most guards she had encountered actually liked working for Gaito.
"I'm Myieli, by the way." The guard said, smiling at Coco, "I'm taking over Daki's shift permanently, so you'll be seeing quite a lot of me."
Coco stared at the girl, silently.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Myieli asked.
"Why are you so interested in talking to me?" Coco asked.
"Well…" Myieli said, "I do have a reason, but I can't quite tell you. It's personal, and if Gaito overheard it would never work. But, trust me, I'll tell you soon enough!"
Coco fell silent again.
"So, aren't you going to answer my question?" Myieli asked.
"Yes." Coco said, "It does get rather cold in here. But you get used to it."
XXXX
A red haired girl glanced at her green haired friend, "It's still snowing." She stated, sighing.
"Miriella, are you sure about what you sensed?" the green haired girl asked.
Miriella nodded, "You can't mistake something THAT powerful."
"Then why didn't I sense anything?" she asked.
Miriella sighed, "I have a feeling he's trying to intimidate me. He used you to pull me away from my partners, and now that you're completely free, he's trying to intimidate me from going back."
"You're not going to listen, are you?!" The green haired girl stood up.
"Of course not." Miriella turned and smiled, "But before I can go back to them, I need to find them. It's been two years. You willin' to help me out, Rina?"
Rina grinned at her, "Of course."
XXXX
In California, a different green haired girl hurried into a building. She pressed the button for the level she needed to go to and settled back against the wall. "Ooh, John's going to KILLLLL me." She muttered. "C'mon elevator, move faster!! Ugh, I should have taken the stairs." The elevator finally made it to the right floor and the girl burst out drawing strange looks from the other people on the floor and a sympathetic look from the receptionist.
"Rayza, don't fall dear!" the receptionist called out, remembering a past time where Rayza had slipped on the wet floor and crashed into the wall two offices past John's.
"Thanks Marie!" Rayza shouted back as she stopped abruptly in front of John's office door.
She took a deep breath and opened the door, peeking in to make sure John wasn't busy. He wasn't. He seemed to have been waiting for her, as the first thing Rayza saw was him glaring at her.
"You're late." John said.
"I know!" Rayza cried, running in and shutting the door behind her, "I'm sorry! I got caught up in something!"
"You always get caught up in something." John said, "I even had to run down to the hotel to meet with Lexia and her friends…"
"Oh, the ones the extra room went to, right? How is Lexia, you haven't said anything about her recently." Rayza abruptly changed the subject without realizing, as was her nature, unfortunately for her.
John simply glared again.
"Sorry, sorry." Rayza said, shrinking back. "You were saying… er… lecturing me?"
"Just stop." John sighed, "Now, let's get down to business."
XXXX
Lexia sighed as she and Aryl walked down one street in California together. They'd been sent on a food run, as the unlucky losers of the Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament the large group had participated in while bored and hungry.
"Where the hell can you get good food around here?" Aryl asked Lexia quietly.
Lexia shrugged, "Guess we'll find out." They were about to head into a sandwich shop when suddenly Aryl felt something grab her leg and drag her upwards.
Aryl shrieked, making Lexia turn, only to see a water demon dangling Aryl by her leg. "Lemme down!" Aryl shouted, "Lemmedownlemmedown!!!!!!!!!" she cried out.
Lexia sighed. "Not again." She muttered. She slipped into the alley beside the sandwich shop and transformed to her warrior form, flying out and punching the water demon in the face.
"Ouch!" the water demon dropped Aryl who shrieked even louder.
"THIS ISN'T WHAT I MEANT!" Aryl screamed as she plummeted towards the hard ground below her.
Lexia swooped down, grabbed her and dropped her in the alley, "Just transform already." She grabbed her club, diving right back into the battle.
Aryl did so and followed, "That's Rilene, I think." She said, "Loyal, according to Moiyu, and unfortunately for us. It's only the two of us here. Can we handle this alone?"
"We're going to have to. We can't send someone back to get the others." Lexia answered.
Aryl nodded and the two swooped into battle with Rilene.
XXXX
From a bench not too far away, Lycoris sighed. "I guess isn't them after all. And after all that time spent following them." She shook her head and was about to walk away when suddenly she saw two more mermaid girls, Kiri and Caren, flying towards the battle.
"Wait." Lycoris muttered to herself, "Now I'm confused. The purple one is using the power I'm supposed to be looking for, but the other three aren't. Princess Anayis said they'd all be together." She cried, "Well I guess I can give this girl the message and see if maybe she can tell me where the others are."
XXXX
"Watch out!" Kiri shouted as an attack headed straight for Aryl. Aryl flew down, avoiding the attack.
"Phew." Aryl muttered, "Kiri, Caren, you're here!"
"I'm not sure what I can do to help, but I can try." Caren said.
Kiri pulled her sword out and slashed a few times, sending energy blasts at Rilene, which she dodged, mostly. The last one hit her side and sent her flying backwards.
"Hey!" Rilene shouted, "That hurt!"
"That was the point!" Kiri called back. Aryl sent off a few blasts of her own while Lexia snuck around behind the demon and hit her over the head with her club. Rilene fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Ouch." Aryl said, rubbing the back of her head, "That must have really hurt her." She said, floating down to the ground.
Moiyu ran over, "Girls, we have a problem."
"What is it?"
"The firefighters just got the fire under control. The message is gone."
XXXX
Rayza fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist as she walked into her hotel room after escaping John. Half of her wanted to peek next door and say hi to Lexia nad her friends, and but the other halkf of her wanted to pass out in bed after a long day. With a sigh, she remembered she couldn't just fall asleep without saying hi and walked out of her room, walking just down the hall and knocking on the door.
Lexia answered the door. Rayza could hear some yelling from within the room, but it sounded more like the entire group was annoyed with something, not that they were annoyed with easy other.
"Hey." Rayza said, "I just wanted to stop by and say 'hi'."
"You're Rayza, right?" Lexia asked, "Thanks for letting us use this room. We really owe you one."
"Nah, it would have just sat here anyway." Rayza said.
XXXX
While Lexia talked to Rayza at the door, Kiri and Aryl sat on either side of the bed they'd put the tied up Rilene on. If they couldn't get the message from Gaito's random natural disasters, they figured, why not get it from Rilene?
She just had to wake up first.
XXXX
Down on the streets below the hotel, Lycoris looked up at the balcony that Caren was standing on. She sighed.
"I can't just give one of them the message. Perhaps I should go back to Anayis and tell her what I've found."
With another sigh, she headed towards the water, determined to swim back to her princess.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Happy Holidays everyone! I got another chapter written. Hee. I ended it there because I didn't want to move too fast, but I have plenty of ideas right now, so expect another chapter to come up before my winter break is over. I know I said there'd be Madison in this chapter, but it just didn't fit. She'll come back next chapter.
Thanks for all your reviews and please keep 'em coming.
And be sure to ask if you have any questions!
Next chapter: Who is this Anayis? What's Lycoris's message? Will Miriella find her partners? Does Rilene know the message Gaito was trying to send? WILL IT EVER STOP SNOWING IN TOKYO?
Okay, I'll stop asking questions now. Basically, if your question is one of those, don't ask it. It'll be answered in the next chapter. I'll answer almost anything else.
Review please. Tell me how I'm doing. They make me happy and make me write more.
Also I have a question for anyone out there that feels like answering. How should I spell Noel/Noelle/Nuil's name? I never figured that one out. She'll be coming in soon, so I'd like to know.
Thanks!