Back at where the two women were fighting, the one that talked to Nathan seemed to have been winning. Although the two had many wounds, they recovered almost as fast as they were given. "Dammit, Circe! Why do all this?" the girl shouted at the one she was fighting, Circe.

"You'd understand, Claire, if you weren't such a goody-two-shoes," Circe calmly replied, summoning another bolt of fire. "That boy was never meant to live!" Circe shouted, creating a fireball, and hurled it at Claire. Claire responded by summoning a large gust of wind to extinguish the flame. It worked, but Claire had to look away for a few seconds. She looked for Circe, but couldn't find her. She looked for the boy Nathan, who couldn't be found. Wonderful. Just another person she was tasked to find mysteriously disappearing. She sped off, using the wind to increase her speed, searching for Nathan.

Nathan, on the other hand, was happily chatting away to Jerome on the log. Only, Nathan knew Jerome died around a month ago. He couldn't believe he was here, right now, since he saw Jerome die. So Nathan sat there, his snake hair screaming at him to run away or strike. The flight-or-fight response he's heard so much about. As soon as he decided to strike, the snakes started to compact, getting ready to pounce.

Jerome obviously noticed the snakes getting ready and said something about it. "Can you control those snakes?"

Ignoring his question, Nathan said, "What happened since the month I haven't seen you?"

"What are you-? Oh." He sounded as if he realised. "Well, I've kept you here long enough; she should be getting here any second now." Nathan pounced alongside the snakes, that kept biting Jerome. However, none of the bites seemed to have done anything. Jerome disappeared after maniacally laughing, leaving behind nothing. Nathan started running.

He thought that the illusion of Jerome was talking about someone that would kill him. So he kept running, but he heard the sounds of trees falling behind him, ever so slightly catching up. He knew he'd get tired soon, so he began to look for a place to hide. There were some spots that were barely too small, some that were barely too thin, some that just couldn't hide a pebble. But Nathan finally saw a good hiding spot and quickly dove into it. He held his breath, looking through a hole.

As the falling trees grew closer, he could begin to see a shape. A human, he was sure of that. But then it began to get closer and he saw that it was a woman. He didn't know her name, but it was Circe, looking rather angry. She raised a finger to her head and said, "Is this a joke to you, Dolo? Where is he?" Whoever she was talking to enraged her to the point of going away in a tantrum.

After waiting until he could no longer see her, the snakes started to pull him in the opposite direction she went. He thought it would continue that way, but then, the snakes changed directions. As if they had acquired an old smell, they pulled Nathan in the direction.

What they led Nathan to was a woman with her back to him. The girl wore a red dress that completely stood out in the forest, along with a beautiful necklace that seemed to have some kind of purpose. Nathan kept staring and the snakes seemed contempt to just let him. However, he didn't expect a gust of wind to knock him off his feet before he even blinked.

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"Who are-?" she began saying, but quickly cut off. Nathan realised the sunglasses had fallen off and she was looking into his eyes. He stopped looking at her, instead looking to the ground. He found them and instantly put them on. "Okay, that was weird." Then, in a whisper Nathan couldn't hear, "And horrifying." She coughed, getting his attention. "I'm Claire Vagabond. Your name is Nathan, correct?" Nathan was speechless, as he didn't think he'd ever meet a Vagabond.

After an awkward silence, Nathan said, "Yes?"

"Well, Nathan, I've had too many people taken from right in front of my nose, so I hope you forgive my unpleasantness as we head off." Before Nathan's response even began to form, Claire ran at him, grabbed him, and ran off.

The familiar walls that protected the city, NNA, New North America, gradually became closer to Claire. It took longer than she thought they would get here, as the boy kept struggling. But they did come here, the boy sleeping in her arms. He struggled so hard that, at one point, she knocked him out.

"Who's down there?" a voice said from a watchtower.

Claire recognised that voice and answered with, "It's Claire Vagabond, coming in from a retrieval operation, John."

"Where've you been, Claire? It's been a day since you left." John said some quieter words she couldn't hear, then pushed on something. "Oh, a word of warning, Claire. Your father isn't pleased."

"When is he ever?" she joked, ducking under the rising door, entering the city.

The city itself was much bigger than the place she picked that boy up from. Around three times the size of that small, one-two block town. Plus, the buildings were much bigger, including a flat roof held up by four pillars above those buildings, covering the city from Rogue Monsters. The lights just lit up the entire place, only getting turned off when the outside became dark. Also, the familiar smell roaming the streets hit Claire's nose, reminding her she was home.

The first place she went to was the Dueling Grounds, where all newly Awakened people went to find out about what they now have. She dropped Nathan after speaking with someone she knew, then left to where she herself lived.

Nathan woke up on a bed. The last thing he remembered was trying to get out of Claire's iron-tight hold when they stopped, and then... nothing. Okay, so now where was he? On a rather comfortable bed, sitting up. He looked around and it held five people, including himself. He stood up, only with a slight pain around his head, and walked around a little. Two people looked only a little inhuman. The first he saw had fur as if he was an animal, but his body was definitely human. The other had legs like a chicken, and instead of arms, wings that almost touched her feet. The other two looked completely human, only being slightly better than average in all ways. Both men, Nathan thought. Same shirts, same hair, same faces. Creepy, he felt they were.

Then, the door opened. More like shot off the hinges, as the door stopped sliding right before it touched Nathan. Only one person, one of the twins, stayed asleep, albeit carrying a pained expression. "Rise and shine!" the man shouted, although his entrance made that unneeded. The other four walked, groggily rubbing their eyes, yawning, or other such things, to either side of Nathan. He seemed to be the only one who didn't even have an idea of what was happening.

The man continued shouting, "My name is Gregory Hefton, but until you all graduate this short education, you will call me 'Sensei'! Is that understood?" What he said raised multiple concerns with the people around Nathan, although they never said it loud enough for him to hear.

One of the people responded with, "Yes, Sensei!" He looked at where the woman's voice that said it and found that it was the chicken lady. She attempted to salute, but with the wings, it just looked ridiculous. Also, she was the only one to say anything in response.

"At least one of you has a sense of humour," Gregory muttered under his breath. "Well, you five should get getting to know each other. Training begins in 10 minutes.