-Next Day, July 16. 8:50 pm. Maple Forest-

The atmosphere of the forest was different under the setting sun. It could look beautiful or slightly eerie, depending on how one approaches it. Ryu, Tanya, Christina, and Reinstar were on the trail to the campsite. They had learned Ryder had been renting out a cabin at the site. While they were here, the other three Radiant were at the warehouse while Tina was monitoring at The Hub.

"Why is this trail long?" groaned the red-head. "They should fire the idea guy."

"Sweetie," spoke the braided-haired raven as she gazed at her phone, noticing the bars decreasing. "Complaining does not make our trip faster."

"Why does calling me sweetie always feel like an insult."

"It has been ten minutes." spoke the short-haired girl.

"Traveling in Galvania can be on foot." said the shinobi. "I enjoy it, and I can get training done when fighting bandits, other creatures, and the weather. I only use transport if I am in a rush."

"Huh." spoke the red-head. "Kind of like this, but less boring." He brought his hand up to his ear. "Jake, Amy, Sam? Did something attack you yet?

"No." said the spiky raven. "It has not started yet. There are a few people in a mosh pit."

"Ew." cringed the chestnut-haired girl. "I stepped on something. Why did I wear sandals?"

"They have cookies!" said the excited box-fade teen.

The spiky redhead smirked. "Careful, man. They might be laced with weed and other dubious stuff."

"Weed is legalized here." The water warrior shrugged. "But you are 15."

"Yes, mom." he mocked.

"Or maybe they are just cookies." said Tina.

"You never know," The braided girl grumbled. "Anything edible could be laced with drugs."

"Might be a stereotype," said Jake. "But we can't be too sure."

"Oh, Reinstar," the younger girl spoke. "You are near it."

"Great!" the redhead pumped his arms.

The group came across a clearing with seven cabins, each looking worn down and littered with weeds.

"I learned they will improve upon the camp by adding more cabins and a recreational area." spoke the shinobi. "I think it's nice."

"That's good." The short-haired raven looked around. "Better than what they are doing in Salem."

"I hope they add a spa." smiled the braided girl.

"And some kind of obstacle course." The redhead added.

"Dream later." Reinstar approached one of the cabins. "Investigate."

The group approached each of the cabins. Ryu entered one of them and looked around. He found a magazine on the table. He picked it up and blew on it. "Fish and you." Shrugging, he read through it while walking to the door across the room. He opened the door and cautiously poked his head through. His face scrunched up in response to the putrid smell, and his gaze immediately fell on a dead raccoon. "All I found is a dead raccoon."

"Do you see a strange plant with it?" asked Jake.

"Nope, nothing from space." He chuckled. "I'm done here."

"AIE!" shrieked Tanya. "GET OVER HERE!"

Ryu turned and raced out of the house.

"Tanya?" gasped Amy. "What happened?"

"A monster?" Sam sounded alarmed.

"What happened?" Jake sounded worried.

"No, something even more disturbing." Tanya shrieked.

Ryu, Christina, and Reistar emerged in the cabin, spotting Tanya backing away from the bedroom. The fearful ice girl turned around with her mouth covered.

"What happened?" Christina calmly and worriedly approached the girl while the violet-haired woman walked past them and into the room.

"I-I never seen that b-before." Her voice trembled.

The lightning teen wore a concerned frown. "What is it?"

"The remains of Ryder.'' They heard Reinstar from the bedroom. Ryu and Christina approached the door as Tanya walked carefully. Inside, they found Ryder, or the hollowed husk of the man, lying on the floor. His skin dried up, mouth gaped, eyes exposed as maggots crawled around the body. The lightning warrior closed her eyes as the water woman turned away.

Reinstar sighed as she stood up. "Hmm, I don't like this. Children, how long does it take for a body to decompose?"

"Uh..." Ryu gazed at Christina. "Do you?"

"No."

"It takes a while." The shinobi faced them. "A few weeks or years. It depends on a lot of factors."

"So it's decomposing." Tanya uncomfortably eyed the husk.

"Well..." The violet shinobi glanced at the husk. "It should be bones by now, but it still has dried skin."

The water woman raised her eyebrow. "Really... so this is unusual."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Maybe."

They quickly turned outside the bedroom and came face to face with Mistress M sitting on the couch. The shinobi jumped in front of the teens as they quickly transformed. Reinstar materialized kunai and prepared to strike... but unfortunately, the ninja noticed the woman was not fully there. She growled as she casually tossed it at the woman in pink, watching it land near her. "I can't feel her."

"I do not want to face you yet." giggled the woman in pink. "You found my present. That body will fully decompose by next month. No worries."

"You are confident, Mistress M." said the cautious shinobi. "We will find you."

"You joke, harlot." growled the ice warrior. "But what did you do to him?"

"Actually, are you taking in the rage energy from the destroyed monsters?" questioned Christina.

"Is your name Mary?"

The woman in pink looked toward the yellow warrior with a look that seemed to have triggered something.

"Mary?" Her voice was hauntingly hollow, her eyes dilated. "What makes you believe that?"

"Someone we know studied the Salem Witch Trials; some of the victims and accusers were named Mary." spoke the shinobi.

The woman's face smiled eerily before laughing in a way that made them uncomfortable. "Oh my, that's a good guess, but it's not." She smiled at Bolt. "It's Margaret."

"I knew it!"

"After guessing many names, dude." Jake reminded the teen.

"And... yes." The mistress chuckled. "The monsters you destroyed are giving me rage energy."

"Why tell us?" demanded the water woman.

"Because I am almost ready." chuckled the woman as she disappeared from sight. The group jumped and looked around.

"As for this man." They turned their attention to the bedroom, where she was looking down at the man with a small smile. "He dropped my prison, causing it to crack. It was all I needed to infect him." She looked at them with a smile. "He was already stressed from work, angry at the many things in his life. It was easy to overwhelm him, to absorb his essence until... that happened."

"Then you met Jake and Pilot."

"Yes," She vanished from sight, making the group tensed up.

"However." They turned to see her standing near the front entrance. "I bet you want to know why rage?"

"Because you can?" questioned the lightning warrior.

"There's that." She gave a distant look. "I have seen people get angry... hell, I may have helped instigate what you read as the Salem Witch Trials. I fed on their rage, their anger, and I even accused a few friends and family to get what I want."

"But why?" inquired the water warrior.

The woman waved her finger to dismiss her. "No, the monster should appear now. Go beat it, release the energy or not." She slowly started to vanish. "I will get what I want."

Once she fully vanished, the group remained in their positions, waiting for her to show up again. One whole minute had passed before Reinstar began to relax.

"She's not coming back."

"How come every time she appears, she feels more unhinged." shivered the girl in white.

"That solves the mystery of her name. Margaret." The boy in yellow nodded as if satisfied.

"I wonder what led her to become what she is." The girl in blue was disappointed.

"Gang." Jake sounded out of breath. "They started chanting. We're looking for a place to hide and transform."

"There are porta-potties," Sam said with a little enthusiasm.

"Ewww, if I have to." Amy whined.

"The monster just became a goat centaur beast." informed Tina

"Let's go," said Frost. "I don't want to be around the corpse... or stay in this dreadful cabin."

The shinobi nodded. "Tina, just like I taught you."

"Hold on." came the voice of Pilot. "Reinstar, your team has to come back here for the moment. We have something you need to use to capture the beast."

"Capture," smiled Frost. "Good, that should damper her plans."

"Alright." Reinstar obliged. "To the Hub."

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-Abandoned Warehouse-

The warehouse wall burst open as the goat centaur soared through the air and landed on the ground. It roared out loud as it produced a shockwave that sounded like someone slamming on the guitar strings. It grunted as it looked around, expecting something. A feminine war cry rang in the air, prompting the beast to turn to the source. It received a hit to the head by porta-potty. It staggered back as it growled angrily at the smell, then jumped back as liquid feces poured out.

Lumina looked satisfied after chucking the object at the monster. Aero and Blaze stepped up beside her, looking between disgusted and amused.

"You alright, sis?" Aero looked amused at the broken porta-potty.

"I need a shower." she stuck her tongue and rubbed her nose. "It smelled so bad, like someone did everything in there. I almost threw up."

"I kind of expected it to crack open and splash the thing." The fire warrior was a little sad.

The monster snorted and raced at them as it lowered its head, round curved horns aiming at them. The trio stood their ground and held out their hands as the beast collided with them. The trio grunted as they were pushed back as their feet carved up the ground.

"Eyaa." squeaked the light warrior. "I feel like I could trip."

"This thing has a lot of grit." grunted the wind warrior

"Brace yourself!" Blaze shouted as he reeled back his right arm, fist coated in fire. He struck the beast, causing a burst of fire that made the clash fall apart, and pushed the monster back. This made the teens trip and roll over until they were on top of each other, with Blaze on the bottom and Lumina on top.

"Thanks, boss." the wind warrior said sarcastically. "Unlike you, we could get burned."

"Couldn't we lift it up?" The light warrior sat up.

"While in motion?" groaned the fire warrior. "Get off."

After picking themselves up, they saw the monster pick up a car and chuck it at them.

"Catch the Car!" shouted Aero.

After they caught the car, they slowly raised it up. Their eyes widened at seeing the bird racing toward them. The fire warrior growled.

"Launch it, then fire away!"

They tossed it back, then sent their long-range adroits at the car just as the monster was near. Unfortunately, once the adroits struck the car, the explosion engulfed the beast. It shrieked as fire consumed it.

"Umm... I hope that did not kill it." wondered the orange-haired girl.

"Maybe that was a bad idea." sighed the gray-haired boy.

"Maybe not. I can still feel it." the red-haired boy stared intently at the fire.

The monster burst through the flame, looking worse than before. It breathed heavily as it glared at the teens. Before either side could do anything, four balls of light dropped before manifesting into Pilot, Bolt, Aqua, and Frost. Each was holding gray cannons.

"Now!" ordered the canokian. Upon command, the group shot a gray goo substance at the beast. Upon contact, the goo quickly spread around the creature. Once it hardened, Pilot reached out to grab it. "Get on!" The Radiant jumped on the creature quickly. "Back to the base!" The group and the monster were quickly teleported away.

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-Later, The Hub, The Holding Cell-

The beast struck upon the mana field fiercely, demanding to be free. The Radiant, Luka, and Pilot observed the trapped beast. Luka nodded. "Alright, with this, I will be transporting it to Galvania for Heina and the Professor. Once they dissect the creature and analyze the rage energy, we can find a way to reverse it and use it to remove the weight on Salem and potentially Parkerville.

"They can't come here?" questioned the Radiant of Fire

"Heina is the type to be in an environment she is comfortable in, and you won't see her on Earth unless there are special circumstances. The professor is a busy man. He also won't come unless it is serious. We'll likely see another from the lab come here than them."

"And with that, we're done. Time to go home." nodded the Radiant of Lightning.

"Wait, have there been situations like this before?" asked the Radiant of Water. "Are there documents or tools to counter it?"

Luka nodded. "Like diseases, we need to find the appropriate cure and treatment. Mistress M's way of drawing it out might be different due to her methods and power."

"Huh," the wind warrior rubbed his chin. "That kind of makes sense."

"So..." The Radiant of Light muttered. "The same tool won't work twice?"

"Sometimes." responded to the canokian leader. "Which is why research is done instead of wasting time going through hundreds of tools and practices that might not work."

"That's fine." The Ice Radiant looked smug. "If it means she is losing her mind over this loss, then take your time."

"But she might find another way." Pilot stared at them. "Continue your training, and don't underestimate her, nor should you be overconfident."

"Right."

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A tree blew up after being zapped by the woman in pink. She sat on a makeshift wooden throne in the woods. She sighed. "Of course, they took it with them." She smiled with anger. "Fools, that won't stop me. In fact, what I will do next will complete my plan."