The entire group continued to enjoy their breakfast as Luna shared what happened to her and her family before she ended up being with the Professor and their mentors. Everyone is equally curious as what her story is because they are certain that it's highly like that they have similar experiences but Surge would be the one too engaged with her story as he couldn't stop looking at her. Knowing him, he gets easily distracted by beautiful women so it's a normal behavior of him for the rest of them.
"Well, that's her story." Calcipher commented.
"After roaming around for days, I happened to come across Zythandra, Calcipher and Professor at a random shop. From there, they took me back here with them." Luna responded.
"I'm glad that we met you like we did. There have been a numerous Anomaly sightings happening in the city and the neighboring ones so the Keepers and the Sentries are all around. Who knows what would happen to you if you were caught." The Professor said.
"I feel the same way, Professor. I'm grateful for that." Luna replied.
"It's great and all but being with us isn't all sunshine and rainbows." Zythandra pointed out. "It's true that you're safe with us but it's important that you learn to fend for yourself as well. Meaning, you have to learn how to fight. However, by the looks of you, you haven't killed a fly all your life."
"That may be true but after what I've witnessed and what the military can do to fulfill their so called cause, I'm ready to fully embrace my Anomaly in order for me to be an asset to you guys and for me to be able to reunite with my family." Luna confidently replied.
"As long as you're prepared, I'm fine with it." Zythandra responded.
"So your Anomaly is not just letting you glow under a full moon but it can let you heal others as well?" Reaper asked.
"That's how it appears to be. Yes." Luna replied.
"That's interesting." Reaper muttered to himself.
"I know that look of yours, Reaper. You're already thinking how Luna can fit in to team, aren't you?" Glass pried.
"Well, you can say that." Reaper responded then chuckled since he got busted.
"Hurrah! Another sister for us and a healer as well at that. This is so exciting!" Medusa exclaimed.
"Based on what we've heard, Luna's Anomaly is greatly similar to Sprite's. Both of them have impressive healing capabilities. However, her Anomaly's strength also lies on its defensive attributes. On the other hand, Sprite's Anomaly may be used for defense as well but we can't deny the fact that it has considerable amount of offensive properties." Beast pointed out.
"That may be the case but it doesn't make Luna's Anomaly or her herself being less effective. I strongly believe that she can become a great asset to the team." Surge butted in.
"I didn't say she's less effective. No one said that. I'm just voicing my thoughts." Beast responded. "Maybe you're the one thinking that. Am I wrong, Surge?"
"You are absolutely wrong!" Surge responded clearly pissed off. "What's wrong with you, man? I'm just standing up for our new friend here."
"Could you two stop your childish bickering? Just in case you're forgetting, we're still in front of our breakfast." Pandora scolded.
"If you're going to ask us, we have a slight plan for her but we'll discuss that when the time comes." Professor commented.
Months have passed and Luna's control over her Anomaly has improved a great deal. Although she's not at the level of proficiency yet like the rest of her peers, she has proven to herself and to the rest that she really has become an asset to them. With her improvement, she can now glow at will as long as she stored enough energy from the source of her Anomaly which is the full moon. However, she may be able to use her blinding light which she named Glisten but her healing capabilities ceased to work for some reason.
Being with the Professor and the rest of them, they've continued to honor their simple custom to somewhat christen a new comrade and brand them with a codename. In this case, they'll be giving Luna a new name to go by. A number of suggestions were put to the table like Glitter, Sparkle and even Karma but they didn't appeal well to them. Considering that she and her family are somehow religious people and with the Professor's suggestion as well, they have decided to name her Halo.
"What is wrong with me? Why is my Anomaly not working as it should be?" Halo asked herself.
"Don't stress yourself too much, Halo. It seems that you Anomaly will only allow you to use your ability to heal in certain conditions." Pandora responded.
"I wonder what kind of conditions might be." Medusa commented.
"That we can't confirm for sure at least for now. We need to continue monitoring her and training with her for the time being." Pandora replied.
"Do you think Reaper can help?" Halo asked. "I know his Anomaly can nullify other's. Does he have the ability to influence others' Anomalies? I mean, can he help me manifest my abilities?"
"Unfortunately, that's not how his Anomaly operates." Sprite commented.
"If it is, we utilized that ability of his to amplify our own Anomalies a long time ago." Pandora stated.
The intense monitoring of the Keepers and the Sentries around the perimeter of the Tabitha's orphanage, the Hill House and the entire city has completely died down at this point in time so Zythandra is now able to conduct their training outdoors once again. Though there are still risks of being spotted, they made sure that there are precautionary measures at play just in case. Zythandra decided to mainly train the girls somewhere near the lake so they can be covered by the surrounding woods while the guys were put to train deep in the mountains. The mountains themselves can help cover their tracks specially their Anomalies' much destructive force.
"How do you want to continue with our training?" Surge asked.
"What do you mean?" Glass asked.
"We can just do what we always do which is the ladder system. Anything else that you can think of is just a drag." Beast commented.
"Here we go again with your gloomy attitude." Surge replied.
"Here we go again with your immature whines." Beast responded.
"Surge, do you have any suggestions? What is it?" Reaper asked.
"There's my good friend Reaper!" Surge exclaimed. "As I was about to say before a certain someone butted in, we should do a Battle Royale for our training today. That would be very exciting! Wouldn't you agree?"
"Here's his childish ideas. What do say, Glass, Reaper?" Beast asked.
"Well, it's an interesting take for training so it does sound appealing to me." Glass responded.
"It does sound challenging. I'm down for a Battle Royale." Reaper commented.
"Not the two of you falling for his crap." Beast muttered to himself in disappointment. "Fine. Just don't complain once I've beaten the three of you."
"That's the spirit!" Surge shrieked. "Now then. Let's just set a few ground rules before we begin."
"There shouldn't be any rules in a Battle Royale, right?" Beast responded.
"Look whose so into the training now." Surge teased.
"Forget I said that. Just do whatever you want." Beast replied.
"Just have a few rules, Surge. It wouldn't be fun there are a lot of rules to follow." Glass suggested.
"I agree." Reaper seconded.
"You know what? I expected Glass to back Surge up with his whims from time to time but now you too, Reaper. It's somewhat out of your character to partake in such violence." Beast commented.
"You think so? I guess I've changed." Reaper replied.
"So you think you can hold your own against us? Do you actually believe that you're now at our level when it comes to combat abilities?" Beast asked.
"I honestly think that I'm still inferior to you three but I know that I can hold my own now and can put up a good fight against any of you." Reaper confidently responded.
"I like this attitude of yours. Let's see if you can really back it up with actions." Beast said.
Surge went ahead and set some ground rules. First rule is to not partner up with anyone. This Battle Royale should be done individually. Second rule is that they're considered to be defeated or out of the fight if they lost consciousness or they gave up themselves. The last and the most obvious rule is to not kill anyone. This last rule imposed as a joke but no one can tell how any of them may act when in the hit of battle.
"No cheating as well!" Surge shrieked. "Nobody use their Anomaly before we start. I'm looking at you, Reaper."
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to anyway." Reaper responded.
"The Battle Royale will commence once that fallen leaf touched the ground." Glass announced as he pointed at a leaf that just detached itself from its tree.
It felt like eternity for them waiting for the leaf to break its fall. All four of them slowly but surely got into their stances preparing for an all-out battle. It's everyone for themselves, no one can be trusted and the strongest shall prevail. As soon as the leaf touched the ground, Beast, Surge and Glass immediately took action. They made sure to gain distance from Reaper to avoid his nullification. Reaper, on the other hand, already anticipated it so he wasn't surprised at all.
Glass quickly enclosed himself with his reflective glass as he flew away from Reaper and towards mountainsides to the West. Surge released a powerful shockwave aiming at the ground creating a huge dust cloud to cover his tracks then he propelled himself away from Reaper and towards the nearby woods to the North. Finally, Beast took advantage of the dust cloud created by Surge as he simultaneously as he transformed himself into his falcon form and flew towards the nearby cave to the East. Their retreats left Reaper alone on his spot.
"Good call." Reaper muttered to himself. "If they didn't do what they just did, their Anomalies would already be nullified by me and they'll be forced to do a hand-to-hand combat."
While the girls continue their training as well the guys continue challenging themselves with their Battle Royale, the Professor and their mentors are dealing with a few concerns on their own. Together with Tabitha and her subordinates, they're currently holding up a meeting at the Hill House. There are topics that are in need to be discussed without the presence of the rest of them. While Reaper and the others are busy with their training, Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski made Rocco and his team guard the orphanage to keep them at bay.
"Let's get down to business, shall we?" The Professor stated.
"This is becoming exciting and I love it." Tabitha responded.
"Madame, we haven't even started yet. You must contain yourself." Ms. Sullivan reminded.
"She's right, Madame. You must maintain your composure." Mr. Wazowski added.
"I can't help myself. It's been a while since we last held a meeting such as this." Tabitha replied. "But, of course, I'll behave myself."
As the meeting progresses, the Professor pointed out that the Coven is once again becoming active in the back lines. This has been confirmed from the numerous intels gathered by Zythandra and Calcipher. This was also backed up by the information gather by Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski from their now expanded Gallant Network. Multiple reports that state some of the Coven's main forces are being spotted at different parts of the Gallant. However, they only encountered Sandata and Feral back when they attacked the orphanage and they haven't anyone else after that but the city alarms throughout the Nation continues to go off at random indicating that an Anomaly has been sighted.
"Mentors, what do you think of it?" The Professor asked.
"I think that we can assume that not only Feral fell under the Coven's control. Aside from Mimic and Pixel who they killed, the rest of them are still missing. Learning that Feral has been working for the Coven now, we can also assume that the others are too which is extremely problematic." Zythandra pointed out.
"Just thinking about it makes my insides tremble. We've learned how powerful Feral got. There's no telling how powerful the others have become if they really are now all under the Coven's control." Calcipher commented.
"Your points are valid. We can assume that all our missing comrades were taken and being forced to work for the Coven somehow. We may not know who really that Eve woman is but she's a force to be reckoned with." The Professor said.
"May I say something?" Tabitha asked.
"Carry on, Tabitha." The Professor responded.
"I do think that Eve woman is toying with us. Think about it. This Sandata person and, as you said, your former comrade Feral already attacked the orphanage and my kids along with yours fended them off. Unfortunately, they got away. If I were them, I will confirm to whoever is in charge all the details that I've gathered." Tabitha voiced out.
"What do you mean, Madame?" Ms. Sullivan asked.
"My point is they probably know our location and confirmed whose team is working with whose team. They are most likely plotting their attack by now and they may execute it at any given moment. And if what you're thinking is true that you're the rest of your former students fell to their grasps, we are in grave danger." Tabitha responded.
"I understand Madame's sentiments. On top of us being outnumbered, we are definitely out skilled. Imagine that it took six of us to fend off just one of them." Mr. Wazowski commented as he pertains to Rocco, Blake, Amber, Aira, Reaper and Sprite defended the orphanage against Feral.
"It may be true that the Coven has learned our location and profiled everyone here but if that is the case, why haven't they launched an attack?" Calcipher asked.
"As what Tabitha suggested, they are most likely toying with us. I say that if they really are toying with us, we take advantage of that time to make ourselves be battle ready so once they really did apprehend any of us, we will be able to hold our own against any of them at least until reinforcements arrive." Zythandra responded.
"I agree with Zythandra. We may not know when they'll strike again but we can't deny that we can use that waiting time to improve ourselves." Mr. Wazowski said.
"Mentors, I just want to ask. Have we learned the identity of this Eve woman?" The Professor asked.
"From all the intel that we've gathered, I'm afraid we haven't got her complete identity as of yet unlike her subordinates." Zythandra responded.
"The Coven's main forces are Quintin Clifford Floyd a.k.a. Void who can summon dark humanoid figures to do his biddings for him. Next is Saoirse Blossom who goes by Jinx who can control her victims through the power of black magic or so they say. Next is Shin Mathews who calls himself Nuke now who, as we know, creates destructive explosions. Lastly, we have Beast's sister Thana Ojibwe a.k.a. Sandata who, like his brother, can apparently transform her body but into different kinds of bladed weapons." Calcipher explained.
"There's one other name that's constantly popping up in our research but we're unsure if it really is a name, surname or a title of some sorts. It's Lancaster." Zythandra pointed out. "Does anyone of you know some who knows by that name? Professor, does that name sound familiar to you?" She asked.
"It does not ring a bell. Let me get back to you with that. I'll try to browse my records." The Professor responded.
All of a sudden, ANAIS alerted Calcipher to listen to the news which he immediately did. He turned on the television in the room and greeted by a breaking news regarding an announcement coming from the military force. They're making their confirmed Anomalies public and they're putting rewards to whoever capture or help capture them either dead or alive. In everyone's surprise, Reaper and Sprite's identities were revealed amongst a handful of others. One of the uniformed men who is being interviewed is Raf and he confirmed what was his relation to them before they've become Anomalies.
"This is bad." The Professor muttered to himself. "Mentors, get the children back here. Make haste!"
"Roger that." Zythandra and Calcipher responded.
"We'll fetch Rocco and the others as well. There's no telling if they're already identified or not." Ms. Sullivan responded.
"Please do. Mr. Wazowski, go with her." Tabitha commanded.
"I will, Madame. Ms. Sullivan, let's get going." Mr. Wazowski said.
"I'll go where the boys are conducting their training. You go grab the girls at the lakeside." Zythandra instructed.
"Copy that, Z. Let's go!" Calcipher responded.
Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Wazowski and Calcipher were able to fetch the Anomalies they're assigned to relatively easy as they were all able to come back to the Hill House as quickly as possible. However, the same can't be said with Zythandra. She got to the mountainside were the guys are supposed to be training but no one was there. Little did she know, Reaper and the others are in the middle of their intense Battle Royale.
It's been quite some time since Reaper and the others started their Battle Royale but no one has been defeated yet. Reaper may still be in the battle but most of the fights are being done amongst Beast, Glass and Surge. Those three are having the same plan to isolate Reaper into a one-on-one battle so they've decided to take out two other enemies before taking him on head on. All Reaper can do is to try lunging in to where the fight is taking place so he himself can take as many enemies as he can and watch himself for sudden surprise attacks. It's not a good feat for him if he got taken down even before being in a fight at least once.
"Where are those guys?" Zythandra muttered to herself as she arrived at the guys' battle ground but not a single soul to be found. "We're about to be in a middle of a situation here."
Zythandra suddenly heard boulders rushing down from the other side of the nearby hill. She immediately realized that some of the guys are letting themselves lose back there if not all of them so she quickly went to where the commotion is. On her way, she stumbled upon Reaper who appeared to be heading where the commotion was. She was so irritated at this point that she punched him slightly in the head.
"What was that for?" Reaper asked while holding his head to ease the pain. "Wait. What are you doing here?" He added as he immediately realized that something bad must be happening.
"You don't get to ask questions here!" Zythandra exclaimed. "Where are the others? We need you all to get back to the Hill House now!"
"They're probably where the rumblings are. And why is there a need for us to go back to the Hill House? Our training time isn't done yet."
"We'll explain the details once we're back. You go on ahead back to the Hill House, Reaper. I'll go get the others."
"I can lead the way to where the fights are at."
"I can handle this. I am as familiar as you are of this place so go before something happens."
"What will happen, Zythandra?"
"If you know what's best for you, you'll stop talking and start heading back to the Hill House." Zythandra threatens Reaper as she flashes poisoned needles hidden underneath her skirt.
Reaper understood what she is trying to convey. If he disobeys her orders even further, she will not hesitate to harm her with her favored weapons or even assassinate him with them on the spot so he decided to go back to the Hill House on his own. On his way back, he came across Calcipher with the girls so they all went back. He confirmed that Zythandra is still fetching the others so they may arrive later than expected.
Zythandra did continue heading where the rumbles were heard. However, it turned all quiet and peaceful as soon as she got there. This irritates her even more. She realized that the guys are doing a Battle Royale so she decided to join them unannounced and she already has a plan to defeat them in one fell swoop. She did come up with a peculiar yet appears to be effective way to lure in the guys and neutralize them all at once.
After analyzing the area, she got an idea to make a huge pile of leaves in the center of the open field to stand out. She'll then hide herself in that pile but make sure to leave some spaces for her to see her surroundings in all directions. Knowing the Beast, Glass and Surge, they may not be in the best terms at times but their teamwork is impeccable. Once they see this unusual pile of leaves out of nowhere, they will attack it all at once as they'll be thinking it's Reaper hiding underneath it without thinking all possible consequences.
As expected, the guys showed up one-by-one. Surge was the first to reveal himself as he tries his best to take cover from the distant South-West followed by Beast from a bushed area of the mountain from the South-East. Finally, Glass emerged from the nearby cliff from the North carried by his glass platform that allows him to levitate midair. It appears that everything is falling into place based on what Zythandra had plan since the three of them did notice each other as well and appears to be preparing to attack all at once from their exchange of glances.
"Enough stalling and just attack already you morons." Zythandra muttered to herself as she readies her dagger-like needles on both of her hands. Also, she tapped her right foot against the ground then it revealed a blade on the tip of the outsole of her shoe.
Zythandra watched the guys as they prepare themselves for an attack. Surge started to concentrate his stored energy in his fist for a destructive jab and in his legs and feet to propel himself towards her. Glass also prepared himself by strengthening his stance on the glass platform he's standing on and manifested to sharp glass discs on both of his hands to deal a slicing slashes. Finally, Beast transformed into a rhinoceros and decided to go for an impactful charge at her. All three of them then rushed towards her for an attack.
"That's more like it. Give it your all." Zythandra commented without any once of fear.
Before Beast, Glass and Surge could even land their blows, Zythandra finally revealed herself by exhibiting a skill he learned from being a former ballerina. She did an aggressive yet still graceful pirouette making the leaves burst from all directions making the guys perplexed by the sight of Zythandra emerging from the pile and all those leaves gliding about. However, what really stopped them from their attack was the unusual defensive stance she took after that ballerina style twirl.
Zythandra stance made her arms outreached as she holds her dagger-like needles aimed at Surge and Beast while her right feet that holds her bladed shoe was also stretched out and being aimed at Glass making only her left leg supporting and balancing her whole body. This stance made the guys stopped and stayed on their feet preventing her to be attacked by three powerful Anomalies and ultimately saving her life from imminent danger. They noticed that Zythandra executed her defensive move so elegantly that it appears that it can be easily done but on the contrary, it requires impeccable skills to pull it off.
"Hey, that almost killed us you know!" Surge exclaimed.
"What are you doing here?" Beast asked.
"What happened to Reaper? Did he ask you for help?" Glass asked.
"These needles aren't poisoned so don't get too scared and if I wanted you dead, I already ended you even before." Zythandra responded fiercely. "Also, everyone is being summoned back at the Hill House. That's why I'm here to fetch you three. I met Reaper on my way here and he's already on his way back there."
"Too bad. Our Battle Royale isn't finished yet." Surge replied regretfully.
"I'll be the one to finish you off if you don't want to go back at the Hill House this very instant." Zythandra responded aggressively.
"We didn't know who's the strongest among the three of us." Beast stated.
"I knew you also want to know that, Beast. It is shameful though but I guess we'll know about that in another time." Glass cheerfully replied. "Let's go back to the Hill House, men!"
Zythandra and the guys arrived at the Hill House unscathed but regrettably a little late but it doesn't matter that much as long as everyone is back and accounted for. They were all greeted by the rest of their group. Tabitha, her head attendants Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski and the four Anomalies under them are there as well. Not too long after, Professor explained the situation making the air tensed up. To make their uneasy feeling even more intense, he recommended to have everyone live in the Hill House until as soon as they know what their next move is.
"Hooray, more housemates!" Aira exclaimed in joy.
"I'll be doing some expansions later on then." Rocco commented.
"I can't wait to spar with any of our friends here." Amber said as she cleches her fists.
"Too many people means too much. That's so fun." Blake muttered to himself sarcastically.
"Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Wazoski and I are much more needed back at the orphanage. We'll be leaving our children to you, Professor."
"We need to continue managing the orphanage." Ms. Sullivan seconded.
"We also need to keep the information flowing from our network." Mr. Wazowski added.
"That's perfectly understandable. Don't worry. Your children will be in good hands." The Professor responded.
The continuation of the meeting concluded not too long after. Rocco, Blake, Amber and Aira were left in the Hill House as Tabitha, Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski went back to the orphanage. They said that they'll be coming back on a later day for their clothes and some of their other personal stuff. Glass and the rest of their team welcomed Rocco and the others properly. They then reintroduced Halo to them since this will be the first time they meet them in person.
"Rocco, Blake, Amber, Aira, meet Luna also known as Halo. That's what we call her now." Glass said then chuckled cheerfully. "Halo, meet Rocco, Blake, Amber and Aira. They are our allies from Madame Tabitha's orphanage."
"Nice finally meet you all in person." Halo greeted.
"Hello there!" Aira greeted back as energetic as she usually is. "So, do you like sweets? I like sweets. What kind of sweets do you like? Oh, do you play video games? I like them too."
"Calm yourself, Aira." Rocco commented. "You might scare her off."
"That's fine. I find her quite jolly and I like that. Well, I do like sweets as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, I don't play video games." Halo respectfully responded.
"We've heard some few things about you." Blake said.
"So, can you fight? You may look like a shy type of woman but I won't judge you by your looks. Your Anomaly may be powerful enough to rival mine." Amber pointed out.
"Unfortunately, I'm not as good as a fighter like the rest of you and my Anomaly is not suited for fighting. They're better used for support I guess." Halo explained.
"Well, that's a bummer but I won't take that against you. You're great as you are. Besides, support Anomalies can be very helpful." Amber responded.
"Reaper, can I ask something?" Rocco suddenly inquired.
"What is it?" Reaper responded.
"I understand your relationship, you and Sprite, to that Keeper. What's his name? Rafael Inoue is it? But after you learning he ratted you both out to the world and probably the rest of us next, are you willing to finally cut off those ties with him?" Rocco asked and the pressure in the room intensified. Reaper couldn't respond to that and specially Sprite.
"Why don't we have some snacks to cool us all down, shall we?" Pandora announced. "Sprite, would you help me make some of those snacks?" She asked. Then, she glanced at Glass signaling to keep Reaper occupied which he immediately understood.
"Right! Reaper, let's go have some quick pool match while waiting for our snacks. Beast, Surge, join us!" Glass invited.
"Pass. I need some rest." Beast responded then headed off.
"He's such a bummer but I'll join. Let's go!" Surge replied excitedly. "Blake, Rocco, you should join too."
"Blake and I plan to play some chess if you guys won't mind." Rocco responded.
"That's quite alright. Enjoy yourselves. This place is yours anyways." Glass said.
They all went off and continued with their day. Pandora and Sprite did prepare snacks for all of them, Beast went back to his room to enjoy his solitude, Glass, Surge and Reaper made themselves occupied with some pool matches, Rocco and Blake continued on with their chess matches and Medusa and Halo accompanied Aira and Amber. Everyone is doing their best to keep themselves occupied but they can't deny the fact that there's an impending danger coming their way sooner or later.
To make their minds be more at unease and on the unsettled side, the city alarm went off once again. Without even talking to each other, they all gathered in the living area as the entire power grid throughout the city was cut off. Halo went ahead and created some glowing orbs of light that she scattered in the room to avoid everyone's sight is less obstructed at least until ANAIS can turn on the power generators in the Hill House.
"What in the world is happening?" Rocco asked.
"I have no idea but I feel that something bad is about to happen." Glass responded.
"This hasn't happened before. This makes all my hair stand." Medusa commented.
"Brace yourselves, people! ANAIS confirmed that there are movements in the perimeter and are possible Keepers." Calcipher announced.
"Being under the Hill House makes us safe from harm's way so whatever transpired above, do not engage." The Professor commanded.
"I will reinforce the walls for extra precautions." Rocco said.
"They're closing in, everyone. Keep the noise down." Pandora commented.
"We've checked the situation back at the orphanage through the cameras ANAIS and I have installed there from some time ago. It appears that Keepers have already started searching the entire area." Calcipher pointed out.
"It's going to be a rough night for us all. May the odds be ever be in our favors." The Professor yearned.