Hello again, everyone! Happy Mother's Day! I'm happy to announce that the winning element has been chosen!

It was a really close, with the two choices tying literally every other vote, but in the end, the chosen element won out by a single vote.

So anyway, hope you all enjoy!

I continued to stare down at the crying little girl as the police slowly moved in; but, something about the crater seemed awfully familiar to me... where had I seen something like it before...?

I realized my answer seconds later - my school had done a short lesson on the first Conduits, and how they were created by a Ray Field blast. And the crater in what was left of Empire City looked exactly like what I was staring at.

And, if she survived the blast...

My suspicions were instantly confirmed as the young, soot-covered animal screamed again, the ground around her shaking as bits of stone flew into the air towards her. Unfortunately, this also undermined the buildings around her, causing them to begin to topple over.

My powers flickered to life as I rushed forward.

Leona looked up as she heard a loud rumbling; seeing the building falling towards her, she let out another scream and held her hands up to try and protect herself. The policemen around her panicked as well - right before there was a loud rustling noise and a CRASH.

Leona slowly opened her eyes again to see something truly amazing.

A young-looking panther - dressed in a grey hoodie and jeans - stood between her and the police officers, his arms spread and his eyes closed. What was so truly amazing was the fact that what seemed to be a city's worth of paper had formed a large dome around her and the policemen, somehow holding up the collapsed buildings.

Her eyes snapped back to the panther when he spoke.

"Unless you want to get crushed when I let this go, I suggest you all get out while you still can." The panther said, quickly jerking his head to the side to point out a large hole in the dome, big enough for an elephant to walk through.

The officers all rushed to the exit as Leona continued to stare in wonder. The panther opened one eye to look at her, then glanced at the barrier before making a decision.

He lowered his arms.

Outside, the officers stared in shock as the paper dome finally collapsed, the buildings finally hitting the pavement and throwing up a large amount of dust and debris. The girl and the panther were still in there! How could they have just left them in there!

At that moment, something white shot out of the dust cloud and straight past them, landing on the street. Amazingly, it was the panther - now with a pair of angelic wings made entirely of paper, with the soot-covered girl in his arms. He gently lay her down on the ground before falling backwards, the paper wings dissolving into individual sheets before somehow sinking into his body.

Seemingly too tired to stand, he glanced over at them all from his spot on the ground.

"Get her to safety..." He said through his panting. "I'll do my best to explain... Once I wake up..."

Seconds later, his eyes rolled back as he passed out from exhaustion.

Again, short chapter, I know, but today is a busy day for me - it's Mother's Day, after all - but this is also to help set up for later chapters. Leona will appear again, don't worry about her.

Anyway, leave a review! Let me know what you think of the story!