Hunter punched in the code to his house on the keypad. He pushed the door open and just beyond the entrance was Chelsea who had a sly smile on her face.
"What are you smiling for?" He asked walking past the honey-brown-eyed woman.
"You know very well why I'm smiling. We share the same thoughts ... and feeling," she said following behind him.
"Okay? What does ... Oh!" He said turning to face the raven-haired woman.
"Yeah ... I had a VIP seat to --"
"Aargh! Can we not talk about it?" He said more of a statement than a question. "Where's Zoe?"
"She's still sleeping ... I had to tuck her in with a sleeping pill since you were too busy to join us last night." As she said it, her lips turn upwards and the sprite shook his head at her.
"I --"
"Aargh!!" A scream caused the sprite to quickly run up the stairs toward his room. He did not wait to think what could have happened but he was sure that the voice belonged to none other than Zoe. He pushed the door open and found the fiend curled up on one edge of the bed and muttering to herself.
"Hundred ... Ninety-nine... Ninety-eight... We are almost there ... Ninety-seven... Ninety --"
"Zoe?" Hunter said climbing up the bed and crawling towards the gray-eyed girl. Her eyes widen in terror and she cries softly.
"Ninety-four... Ninety-three... Ninety-two," she said as she sobbed.
"Hey," Hunter said holding her hand and pulling her into a hug. "It's okay, it's me, it's Hunter," he said.
"Hunter?" She said finally calming down. "Where were you?"
"I'm here. I'm right here."
...
///
"Hey, where's Sof? She called me over," Hunter said as he walks into an open field where Zoe was seated on the grass.
The fiend rises to her feet and walks up to the sprite. "That was me, I asked her to," Zoe said.
Hunter uses his index finger to rub the back of his ear. "Why?"
"Because I realized the inter-order training was not enough," Zoe said.
"What are you talking about? I defeated Merlin all on my own! And I survived two Northland spies," said the teal green-eyed boy.
"Barely survived. I was there, remember?"
"I can sense your energy, you know ... I'm much stronger than you are," Hunter claimed.
"Is that so?" Zoe said with an amused smile.
"Easily."
"Let's have a duel then," Zoe proposed. "If you win, I'll tell everyone we know about your victory and I'll owe you another favor."
"And if you win?"
"You start training with someone powerful, it doesn't even have to be me. Before we start, I have a question for you; During the inter-order competition final, you used the move I used to defeat you and the other sprites in training. How did you do that?"
"I don't know ... It was like instincts," he said.
"Aha. You probably should start with that, you'd fare better against me if you use it," Zoe stated.
[Don't do it. I had doubts before but now I'm sure, she is masking her energy]
"They'll be no need for that," he said raising his clenched fists and moving into a fighting stance. "I already have a trick up my sleeve."
Zoe smiles sliding her right leg backward. "Don't hold back."
Sophia arrives at the scene with three cups of coffee. She watched as Hunter charged at the fiend at such a speed she could barely catch with her eyes. The redhead decided to stand back and observe the two until they were done.
Hunter jumps high and the grey-eyed girl follows him with her gaze as the sprite goes higher and higher up in the sky until he suddenly disappears.
Sophia looked in surprise and so did Zoe, albeit for just a moment before regaining her composure but the sprite suddenly appeared in front of her and throws a punch. Before the attack connects, the dark-haired girl jumped backward, avoiding the sprite.
'I can't believe that work ... How come someone with as much energy as Zoe did not realize that was an obvious visual manipulation?'
[She didn't expect it but you won't have the privilege of catching her by surprise doing the same thing twice]
'Yes, that was my only chance ... I should have anticipated her dodging my attack.'
Hunter charged forward again, pink energy surrounding his hands as he throws a punch. Zoe slapped Hunter's hand away. "You beat Merlin like this?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
'I can't change strategies though; let's hope she hasn't figured out what I actually did.'
Hunter performs a roundhouse kick but Zoe catches his legs in the air. Suddenly, tentacles burst out of the sprite's feet and move toward the fiend's neck. Zoe quickly pushes him away, jumping backward to avoid the tentacles.
[That's two times now]
'I know, I know.'.
He charges forward once more. "... But you know what they say: third time's the charm!" As he got close to the fiend, he suddenly melts into water.
Small icy, thornlike, projectiles fly from the puddle towards the fiend who moves to the side to avoid the attack only to receive a punch from Hunter that sends her crashing into the ground.
"Wait, What?!" Sophia says surprised.
Zoe rises from the ground and begins to transform. Her short, shaggy, black hair grew in length and turned white. Two flat horns that curve three times in a zigzag pattern grew out of her head. Her clothes transform into sparse, light-colored armor while her tanned skin turns albino pale, except for her arms down from her shoulders and legs down her upper thighs, which darken into black. Her nails grow to the point where they resemble claws, and she also grows a tail about the same length as her arm. Her eyes also change, the pupils maintain their gray colors but shrink down into a narrow ellipsoid. On her back is a pair of large bat-like wings.
Before the dark-haired boy could react to the fiend's transformation, Zoe had already closed the distance between them. She hit him with a right hook that sends him flying backward, then appears before he crashes and hit him with an uppercut that sends him up into the sky then appear again in the air and hit with a thunderous punch that causes the sprite to go several feet into the ground.
Hunter crawled out of the hole in the ground. "I'm having a strange feeling of déjà vu."
"Alright ..."
<•> <•>
Sophia felt the world slowed but Hunter suddenly felt his powers begin to wear off and he began losing connection with his surrounding. Before he could think of aborting the move, he felt a hand grab him by the throat, lifting him off the ground and slamming him onto the ground.
.
.
.
"Let's go out," Hunter said.
Zoe looked at him, her eyes still teary from all the crying she was doing earlier. "What?"
"Aren't you tired of being cooped up in here? Let's go for a stroll around the city ... Eat some street food and get up to some mischief. None of that last one but what do you say on the first two?"
Zoe shakes her head. "What if it gets dark?"
"We'll be back before then," Hunter assured.
"What of the shadows? The Adversary can emerge from the darkness cast by shadows," Zoe said.
"I give you my word Zoe, as long as I'm alive, the Adversary would never get to you," the sprite promised.
The fiend smiled and rested her face on the teal green-eyed boy's hand.
...
Hunter and Zoe walk hand in hand through the Met streets in comfortable silence.
The sprite was wearing his trademark brown hoodie and black jeans trousers while the fiend had a simple white T-shirt and a short blue skirt.
"I don't go out often," she said.
"But you are from around here, aren't you?"
"The Met? No. I'm from Phoenix, Veronia in the United Republic," said the fiend.
"Really? I never would have guessed you were from the Republic. You always strike me as a Met indigene."
"I did grow up here though."
"Your parents moved here when you were younger?"
"No," she shook her head. "No parents. I grew up with Lauren and her family."
"What happened to them? Your parents I mean."
She shrugs. "Don't know; they gave me up to the Bureau when I started showing my abilities but Lauren's parents took me in a few weeks later. I grew up with them and I haven't looked back since," she stated.
"Looks like we have a lot in common than I thought," Hunter said. "I also grew up in an orphanage until I and a friend of mine got bored and ran away."
"You haven't tried looking for your parents?"
"What's the point? They are the ones that gave me up."
"I feel the same way."
"Although ..."
"What?"
"I recently figured out some things that make me want to check those things."
"Like what?"
"I can't remember anything from before I turned 12 so I believe my memories were wiped ... Also, I think in addition to being a sprite I'm also a dark mystic."
Zoe stops walking and turns to face the teal green-eyed boy. "Why do you think you're a dark mystic?" She asks.
"I can transfer energies," he stated.
"That would explain some of the things I've seen you do in training. What order do you think you're a part of?"
"I don't know," he rubs the back of his ear before breaking into soft chuckles.
"Are you alright?"
"Sorry, I just remembered something. Do you remember the first time we met? When we were on the bus for the study tour? We asked about you but you wouldn't tell us."
"I remember that as clear as day. I hated that I had to babysit you guys since I wasn't even a student and the three of you were treating me like I was your friend when I was head and shoulders above all of you."
"Oh, I didn't know you had a problem with me being friendly."
"I don't. Not anymore, not with you."
"Great! So how about you tell me what you were going to say if you had participated the other day."
"I don't want to."
"Oh come on! It's not that big of a deal."
"I'm not saying anything."
"Then you leave me no choice: I, Hunter 'The Exorcist' Heffernan, by the power vested in me by the agreement we made while celebrating the sprites' win after the inter-order competition first round, where you, Zoe, agreed to owe me a favor if the sprites reach the final ask you to answer my question."
"No."
"What do you mean no? That's not how --"
"I'm saying you proved that I was wrong and you were the driving force to your team reaching the final. So no; You don't need to cash in on the favor for something as silly as this. Some of the things I'm going to say you already know or could have guessed it. I'll give you an answer but I'll still owe you a favor."
[Hm]
"Okay, great! So what would you have said?"
"My name is Zoe LeClaire, I'm nineteen, 5'11", and I'm an S Grade fiend - a grade I was given when I was thirteen. I like good foods and hate rain."
"Hate rain? A lady after my own heart."
She smiles. "You hate the rain too?"
"Yes! People say it's calming and stuff but to me, it's just depressing and leaves everywhere muddy and wet."
"Agreed."
"Also I can't believe you are only a year older than I am but have already accomplished much more than I have. You truly are impressive, Zo."
"Thank you. Maybe if you start training more and not say things like: 'by the power vested in me by a bet we made almost four months ago' you'll get there soon."
"Are you really shaming me for that?"
"Yes, I am. What were you thinking?"
"I was trying to be funny while simultaneously getting my point across."
She shakes her head. "Hey, is that a bowling alley?"
"Yeah, you want to bowl some? We're not with bowling shoes though," he pointed out.
She grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him to the alley. "I'm sure they have something inside we can borrow."
"Er ... No. You know how many people have put their disgusting feet in there?"
"Fine. We'll just bowl without shoes then," she said.
"So my bare feet would be touching the ground? That's not any better!"
"We bowl with what we're wearing then."
Suddenly, all the lights in the building go off and Zoe stands still, a shiver runs down her spine and she doesn't move, almost like she's in a trance. Hunter quickly takes her hand in his and speaks to her as the lights come on again.
"Zoe, you're fine. You're in a bowling alley and I'm here with you, remember what I promised you?"
The fiend blinks twice before turning to Hunter with sad eyes. "Let's get out of here," she said.
"You sure? You were really excited to bowl," he said.
"I'm fine. Can we just leave?"
"As you wish. But we're definitely bowling soon. We'll bring shoes and everything."
--------