Menacingly, Janet sat down, staring daggers into my foe as she sipped her half-finished pint.

"So. Craig. You think you're just teaching these kids the truth? Why not let them leave then, surely they'll come back if you're right?"

"Because you people will infect their minds. Need to teach them to defend themselves first. Just like this!" He screamed, blasting red balls of fire at my face.

Forming a shield of yellow light, I blocked him, and took out a brown, hardback book from my bag.

"And you wonder why people are too scared to confront you, too scared to leave. How about we take this outside?"

"Raaar!" He replied, sending two more scorching blasts at me - trying to melt my skin off my bones. But again, I blocked their movements and this time focused on the flow of his energy as he formed the paths, jotting it down in my grimoire.

"Mind if we break your roof, Barb? We'll fix it, of course."

"Sure?"

"Great. Alix?"

Concentrating his energy below us, he formed a room sized brown path on the floor.

"Beifong style: Heavenly Summit!"

Naming his moves like always, he raised his fist, lifting the ground out of the pub, separating Craig and I from everyone else.

"Cheap tricks won't stop me, britz!" he snarled, attacking again.

"No, but I will," I smiled, as I blocked the flow of his energy, negating his paths, canceling his flames. The look on his face was priceless.

"Just stop now, man. You've humiliated yourself enough," I offered, gesturing to the crowd gathering outside. Catching a glimpse of Sven's friends with their families, cheering me on - reunited - I felt my heart warm up.

"Look, they might've made mistakes, been too scared to act, but they improved. They grew. All it took was an open mind, and a little push. So just leave, you're not going to coerce them back in now."

"Polx you, [slur]!"

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「Boom!」

1 hour later, Craig's gang entered the city to find him, and threaten the citizens like usual. But this time, they were driven out by the community all working together, led by Sven and the newly reformed boys. Amazingly, they even managed to convince a few more to leave and atone. It would be a long process to build back trust with their families, for some it wouldn't ever be possible, but they still vowed to do better - even refusing the help of our paths to fix Barb's pub, deciding to do it themselves instead.

"So how did you beat Craig?" Sven asked, as we carried food to people around the city.

"I reversed his path, sent his energy flowing backwards, so it broke and blew up in his face. Too bad he ran away though, wanted to grab a selfie."

"It's alright," he smiled, "I'll grab one for you if he causes any more trouble. We're all gonna learn new tricks from the Synchronization Project's website, so we'll be prepared to stand up if the situation calls for it."

"Only in self-defense though, right?" checked Ryan, feeling the death stares of his brother in the back of his head.

"Of course, and no escalation too. Oh, and if it's alright with you, Miss Naomi, I'd like to share my story on the Project as well; hopefully it'll inspire others to not go down my old path, and to watch out in case their friends do too."

"Yeah, I'd like that, I'll write it up when we get back to the office."

"Check out those people I mentioned too, kid," Alix instructed him as we got ready to leave, "always good to hear voices different from your own, get out of that echo chamber, you know."

"100% I'll try to find some better role models, sir. Try to be a better one myself, too."

Nodding in approval, Alix transformed some nearby boulders into his: "Salazar style: rock racer", a four-seater open-top muscle car. After saying goodbye to all the people we met (promising to come back for drinks soon) we all jumped in, and drove off, towards Alix and Ryan's house.

As we merged onto the highway, I felt secure. I had my girlfriend holding me, my best friends making my ears bleed from their singing. I finally got the courage to tell them about my mom.

"Whatever you chose to do, we'll support completely, angel."

"Yeah, you might leave them forever, you might phone them right now. Both are completely valid," Ryan replied.

"No matter what though, you have a family with us."

After a long drive, we eventually made it to Lancashire (up north), to Mr Martínez's driveway. Finishing up the boba that Ryan pestered us to buy, I decided to at least check the message that my mom had sent earlier.

October 3rd.

7am: "London? That's fun. Care to purchase a fridge magnet for us?"

8:03 am: "Sorry. I've been keeping an eye on you, making sure you're safe. Saw your friend post that image and wanted to reach out. Is that your girlfriend? She looks nice, we'd love to meet her."

-1 unread message-

8:09 am: "I'm sorry, Naomi. I didn't know how to reach out properly and ended up panicking, but I should've started with this:

I know I hurt you, and I'm so sorry, sweetie. I never should have said those things, and I've regretted them every day for the past month. I don't know if I should've reached out sooner, or left you alone for longer, but what I do know is that I'd like to atone. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I just want you to know that I love you, and I'm so proud of you.

I don't want to push too hard, or put any pressure on you to respond, but please know that whenever (if ever) you're ready, I'd like to make ammends and rebuild our relationship, on your terms.

Love, mom."

Wiping tears from my eyes, and drying the phone screen, I leant my head on Janet's shoulder as she squeezed me tight.

"It might be a slow process, but I think I'm ready too, mom.

Love, Naomi."