-July 22, Friday, 11 pm-

In a forest, Mistress stood on an altar she had constructed, surrounded by six stone pillars. Across from the altar was a stone throne she had constructed. The woman in pink raised her umbrella; a faint red aura faintly flickered for a second. She let go of the umbrella, letting it slowly float in the air. Minutes had passed until it was fully above the city.

Satisfied, she tapped her foot on the altar. A faint aura flickered for a second. Slowly, a red spec of rage emerged from the altar and flew in the air, as if it was being careful not to be seen, toward the hovering umbrella. Then another spec emerged thirty minutes later.

She smiled with glee. "Slowly, so they won't be alerted. Part one is done; now I will wait for Part two."

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-July 26, Tuesday. Ishida Household, evening-

The family of three was at the kitchen table enjoying dinner.

"You're going to a baseball game?" Jake raised his eyebrow. "It's on Saturday. Did he tell you a month ago?

The mother smiled at him. "No, just today. Two of his friends backed out at the last moment, and now he wants me to come and bring one of you."

Tina nodded while rubbing her chin. "I see what this... I will pass, though, not a huge baseball fan."

"Then I will go." He took a bite of his food. "His friends back out at the last minute, then he asks you days before?"

"So?" The young girl scoffed. "He likes mom, and asking for one of us means he is serious."

"Or butter us up so we will like him and ignore his shady side."

"You are being paranoid."

"I'm not! I just want to know who this guy is."

"Children." The siblings jumped at her calm yet authoritative tone. She shook her head, then stared at her son. "Jake, I know you are suspicious." She crossed her arms. "I will be able to gauge his intentions. Your mother is not a fool." She glanced at Jake. "Speaking of going out. Why haven't you brought your friends here Jake?"

"I don't know."

"You should invite them; the both of you are always out every day, even a few hours on weekends. I hope you are not doing anything dangerous."

The spiky, raven-haired teen chuckled. "Dangerous as in trying to skateboard, then yes."

She chuckled. "As long as you are having fun, that is all that matters. Invite them some time; I want to meet them. They are your new friends, after all."

Jake nodded. They are his friends and not teammates who got together under different circumstances. Although he had to admit there was this negative feeling in the back of his mind telling him they were just a team. However, he will not listen to that voice or let past experiences negatively affect him.

"I will bring them by sometime."

"Good."

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-Winfield House-

"And that is the story."

After dinner, she wanted to speak to her father privately. They went to his home office to explain what happened that night. Once the story was finished, she gazed at her father, who looked... calm, but anger was in the eyes.

"Daddy?" She looked worried.

"Do you want to press charges?"

Her eyes widened. "But..."

"I won't be forced out of my position; even if I am, I will fight back." A warm smile manifested. "I already have years of clients under my belt to take with me in case something happens. I don't mean to brag, but I am one of ten people keeping that firm afloat."

"I love that shark attitude you have." She smiled, then frowned. "But..." She sighed. "I... no, sorry."

"It's all on you." He sighed and stood up. "Come here." He spread his arms.

She went into his arms and hugged him back. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," He said. "Even now, kids can be jerks. I had defended myself against punks when I was a kid. I was a hellfire in my day when it came to getting into fights. That's what drove me to law."

She stared at him blankly. "Uh-huh."

"Basically, no matter what you decide, I am still in your corner."

"Thank you."

"But I have noticed a change in you. Did you befriend those girls at the party?"

Her eyes widened, then nodded. "Y-yes. They introduced me to other people they know."

"Hmm..." He contemplated. "Should I badger them?"

"What? No!" She squealed as she pushed away.

He laughed. "I am half kidding. I'm glad you found a new group of friends."

"Me too."

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-The Hub, Med Room-

"What did they say?" asked the redhead.

"The monster they are experimenting with." The bird woman checked her notes. "They found a way to convert the rage into something else. They will run more tests and send it to us within a week." She smiled at him. "It should be able to clean up all that rage in Salem, but."

"But."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Well... they are concerned about a large concentration of active rage energy. Small particles lingering here and there. That's manageable, but a large mass of it all in one spot? That is what they are concerned about. It will be difficult to convert unless we have a team of people specialized in emotional power."

"We don't have a team. Salem's situation is different from what will happen here." The leader contemplated. "If it's impossible to convert a large concentration of power, then we need to find another way to deal with the problem."

"Contain and send it elsewhere." The bird woman's feathers ruffled worriedly at the thought. "The problem is where to put it?"

"Whatever we do, it has to be done."

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-The Next Day, The Hub, Training Room-

On a plateau high above the clouds, the Radiant faced each other while standing in a circle, their arms held out as their hands radiated with an aura matching their colors. Beads of sweat dripped from their faces as they concentrated on generating a translucent mana barrier, yet it looked unstable. Javo was seen observing them.

"Concentrate, younglings." ordered the muscular man "Remember what was told. This will be a good lesson for learning how to separate your element from your mana. When the crystals were given to you, they increased your potential to learn non-elemental adroits." He chuckled. "In this case, you are learning a confinement adroit."

"So, we can contain anything?" asked the fire warrior.

"Not quite; it will depend on how much reserves you have and the strength of who or what is beating against it. This is an important skill to know if we don't have confinement equipment. It's not perfect, but it is a temporary solution."

"Yeah," The light warrior said. "I understand. This is getting difficult."

"We have been practicing for a week now." said the wind warrior.

"And it still feels like we are far behind." grunted the ice warrior

"We will get there." groaned the lightning warrior. "We will go to master class in no time."

"Enough yapping, keep trying." the water warrior said.

Suddenly, the barrier shattered before them. The group, feeling exhausted, dropped to the ground. Javo chuckled. "Good news, it lasted longer, congratulations."

"Yeah." groaned the warrior in red. "But we need to keep trying."

"Can't we just rest for today." sighed the light warrior as yawned. "We trained for two hours, then started this."

"There will be times when you are exhausted that you must get up, take a deep breath, and pull out your reserves for a good comeback." The brown-skinned canokian marched forward and patted Blaze on the back. "Being tired can make it difficult, I know. The warrior within will know what to do in a crunch."

The warrior of fire nodded, trying to understand his speech. "Yeah, like soccer."

"Or paintball." groaned Bolt.

"Or trying to get one last thought in a debate." Aqua sighed.

"Put a little of that spice in power." Lumina nodded happily.

"I get it." Aero sighed. "In a pinch, I will rise up."

"Truth." Frost yawned. "Be bold and sensational."

"Great, you're free to go." smiled the canokian.

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-Parker Youth Center-

Christina entered the youth center to get ready for her volunteer job. A voice called out to her as she approached the changing room.

"Christina!"

She scowled at the voice, recognizing who it belonged to. She turned to face the blonde-haired girl, Marissa, and her green-haired accomplice, Lily. "Oh, it's you too."

Sighing, Marissa shook her head. "Don't worry, we are not here to belittle you. Is Amy around?"

"She is elsewhere." The raven-haired girl sputtered. "Look, I'm too tired of the usual antics."

"You're right." Marissa held up her hands. "I won't tease you today." She rolled her eyes. "In fact, it takes too much energy to be at each other's throats constantly."

"I'm sorry." the violet-eyed girl narrowed her eyes. "You did start this over some dumb boy and school status."

"True." frowned the green-haired girl. "We evolved from that."

"Have you?" The raven-haired girl had a blank stare. "Really?"

"Okay, how about this." spoke the blonde. "We won't totally antagonize you every chance we get. Robert will waste his time, but we will ignore you."

"Okay, then what is stopping you from getting provoked over something ridiculous?"

"Uh." the blonde shrugged. "Because we are older and more mature."

The raven-haired girl remained unconvinced as she gave a bored expression.

"Okay, fine." The blonde groaned. "Recently..."

"Recently?"

"Grandma cut me out of the will because I made an error in judgment. I may... or we... she has... seen."

"We made a video where we mocked a man getting dumped." The green-haired girl answered. "We posted the video, then her grandma gave her an earful and wants her to apologize to those she wronged." She looked at Marissa, who took out a document. "Her grandma wants her to get signatures from every person she wronged."

The raven-haired girl looked surprised at first, then her eyes narrowed at the names, recognizing a lot of them. However, the skeptical side told her otherwise. "Is this legit? Did this really happen?"

"Yes!"

"I need more proof; video call her." scoffed the raven-haired girl. "I know what she looks like. I have seen her at the musical months ago."

Marissa pouted. "So nosy." She took out her phone. "Fine."

"Even after the proof, if I sign it. I still won't trust either of you."

"But we won't antagonize you at every opportunity," Lily spoke. "It got boring."

"Uh-huh."

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-Ridgewood Plaza-

"Huh, I did not peg you to be interested in crafting with leather." said Tanya. She and Amy were at a fabric store the latter wanted to visit.

"It's a hobby," Amy said proudly. "I'm in the middle of making a present for my dad. His birthday is in a few months, so I wanted to craft a few things. A backpack is sturdy and protective. I drew what I wanted, then researched what else I could use. Next, I will buy some foam." She picked up and felt the texture. "My nonna, grandma, taught it to me. I started small with watch bands, then kept working my way up."

"I would like to see all your crafts." the braided hair girl smiled.

"Huh, I did not think you would be interested."

"It's art. It should be looked at, marveled at, and critiqued."

"Yep." The brown-haired girl happily chirped while putting more items in the basket. "Although I tried making a birdhouse with wood, it did not turn out well."

"Same," She grimaced. "An abysmal project. It was crooked, and it fell apart immediately as soon as the bird perched. The echoes of my brother's laughter haunt me."

"Tehehe, you tried. We can't be lumberjacks as a career."

"A factual statement."

"Ah, Amy!"

The girl in question sighed, then turned to the person who spoke her name. Robert Randall stood there with a smug smile. No one was with him, and he had four paint tubes in his hand, obviously buying something. He looked at her like she lost something.

"Hi." She answered.

"Getting something to sew, huh? Cool, I always knew you were like that."

"It's leather crafting." The brunette glared at him. "It's a project for my family."

"You are into making stuff out of leather." frowned the boy. "Huh, that sounds too... not you."

"You don't know a thing about me."

"Okay, maybe not. Don't care what you do. Bet you are going to put glitter on the wallet for your old man." He then turned to see Tanya as if discovering her for the first time. "Ah, who is your pretty friend? Hi, I'm Robert Randall." He gave a smile as if he was flirting.

"Tanya Winfield." She said with boredom. "I have heard about you."

"Oh." His eyes brightened, then frowned. "Wait, since you are with her, she must have told you some stories." It turned into a smile. "I'm not what she described, just a guy walking through life."

"Ah." The braided girl crossed her arms. "Are you trying to make an adequate impression on me? Your little conversation with my friend has told me a lot about you."

"Oh come on, listen, we can get some ice cream an-."

"No, that won't do." She shrugged. "We are from two different worlds. Please refrain from any intent of pursuing me."

"Damn." chuckled the jock. "Feisty, but that's fine. Not even if I am going to a baseball game? I got two tickets."

"Really?" Tanya tilted her head with fake surprise and awe. "A baseball game with you?"

"Yeah!"

"OH!" she feigned a smile, then frowned. "No."

"Okay, your loss. Amy, if you see Orlando and Ishida, tell them their punks. Later."

The girls watched him leave. After a moment, the ice warrior glanced at the light warrior.

"Ryu is right. That boy is high on ego."

"Yep." The brown-haired girl groaned. "It's stupid that he still thinks I lost out on a chance to be with him."

"You did not miss a thing with that cur." Tanya shook her head. "Honestly, spending a minute with him was exhausting."

"Yea..." The brunette nodded. "Someone who thinks too highly of himself." She giggled. "But there is no point in dwelling on him. Let's get some Cinnabon."

The braided girl's eyes beamed as she nodded. "First thing we should've done here."