Cloey Taffel stood right next to the library entrance, turning her head repeatedly to spot anything that might come in her way. Although she knew that she didn't have to do that since she was in school right now, with the strong and caring Mr. Kowpinn as the security guard to protect the students here.
But ever since that time with that monster back in Honoway Mall, in the cosmetic store, there was this feeling that Cloey couldn't shake off.
She thought that with her magical flying shoes, the Knightly Defender, she would be some kind of chosen person with the power to spread kindness and protection to those unfortunate. However, the way she dealt with that monster while having to protect a bystander caught in its freezing attacks made it quite harder than it looked.
Cloey wanted helping people to be fun, and it genuinely did feel like it before, but with her powers not strong enough and the fact that facing a real-life monster was way scarier than it should be, it wasn't enough to offset the feelings of being so "ordinary" in a city like Standart.
But who knows... Maybe she should try again in the future with her power, to see if the exhilaration might happen to her. Hopefully, if she had to reveal it to the other members of Quad Four, then it would truly be a blessing for Cloey to show her powers to the others.
For Cloey to be the only one with superpowers while the rest of Quad Four would be totally normal, she would propose the idea that they should make their own superhero team to help other people with their troubles. That was definitely a noble goal that would help many people.
Captain Cloey, the strongest one of the rest. But she was sure that Sam, Sheila, Nate, and Manson had their own unique quirks that made them stronger than her in some areas.
She hopped in the air with a gleeful shriek. "Yippie! Alright! Time to clear away any negative feelings from my mind and let the positive ones in; that should be the cure!"
"Excuse me, I need to get through."
A slow, rough voice invaded her space, making Cloey turn toward the source.
A disgruntled-looking man with a white bird's nest of hair on top of his head. His painfully glaring yellow, buttoned-up long-sleeve shirt contrasted with the red tie, though his brown formal trousers were the only thing that was alright.
With a closer look, the man's name suddenly flashed in Cloey's mind.
It was the vice principal of Standart High, Mr. Henry Simmons. The assistant to the main principal, Principal Bridgecrest, handling most of the school's operations.
His small, circular spectacles sneered Cloey in the face as Mr. Simmons properly adjusted them on the bridge of his nose. He took a closer look at the girl blocking the entrance to the library school door.
"Hmm...? A student here in after-school hours?" His nasal voice rumbled in Cloey's ear. "Ack! Youngsters these days, most of them not having a care in the world, while they act suspicious anywhere."
"Oh, hello, vice principal! I didn't know that you would still be here! Most of the staff would have been long gone after school by now!" Cloey remarked.
"Bah! I'm one of the few people among the people working in this school who cared to do the paperwork and complaints around here. If the students here want to complain, then they should at least do it in the counselor's office for all I care."
Cloey noticed herself being dejected from having to interact for a considerable amount of time.
Around Standart High, Mr. Simmons wasn't the most popular adult figure around the school, with some people preferring Mr. Mouch's strict personality over the vice principal's dispirited and cranky aura. Something must have happened in his past that caused him to be like that in the present.
In Cloey's opinion, though, she didn't really mind. She knew that Mr. Simmons was probably trying her best to control the whole school; together, there were so many rowdy students jumping around every day, every hour.
Mr. Simmons entered the library without much conversation with Cloey, shut the door behind him, and left her alone once again with her thoughts.
* * *
The empty central patio, devoid of any human groups, was seen by Sheila Orbison. She sat on one of the ledges to rest and remained there since the end of the active school hours today.
In one hand was a book about an oceanic journey, with each crew member's relationship revealed to the reader. In the other hand was a bottle of orange juice that she paid for in one of the working vending machines right outside the gym; the cold plastic cooling her palms felt refreshing, especially for the beginning of autumn's last hot days. For Sheila, it was much required to maintain her focus and wariness in such a place.
She would have read in the library, but apparently there was some school staff meeting taking place in there, and a sign was placed in front of the entrance that said no students were allowed to be inside for leisure except for returning books.
It was really a shame for Sheila, because there was a good spot for her to read privately in the far section of the library where not a lot of people go. On top of that, the nearby shelves were valuable encyclopedias, and the air conditioning unit was right next to the seat. With these factors added up together, it was a paradise for private reading.
When she found out the news right at the library's entrance, Sheila simply shrugged to herself and went to the area where Quad Four usually met up and talked amongst themselves after an hour of being in a class. The central patio always had at least a few spots under the arches for anyone to rest, and the roof prevented any blades of light from hitting the person underneath, so it wasn't really a major problem.
Sheila stared at the empty area; obviously, there weren't any people around except for the occasional students going to their after-school classes and to attend clubs, but it gave a sense of serenity in her soul, like this atmosphere was supposed to be like that.
If Quad Four were here, she was sure that they wouldn't understand but would tell Sheila the positive things anyway. Because right now, their way to face problems head-on made them stronger than her.
"My friends... those four are kinda peculiar. I wonder what they are hiding, if they are hiding something to begin with," she mumbled to herself, fondly.
Turning the page the second the wind breezed past her, Sheila began reading novels.
* * *
The large sign of Standart High stared down at Manson, and in turn he stared right back. He was unsure if he could enter; then again, he wasn't sure he could enter at all based on what happened yesterday.
Last night, the same night when Manson was in Harmist Lane, he had just witnessed a total gang battle between a bunch of people around the fountain in the middle. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before because he could barely track the movements of the elite fighters, and there was even that one rocker chick summoning huge pillars of swirling fire that she made fly towards the other members of the Snapcrack Gang.
The Snapcrack Gang was strong, no doubt, but there were monsters on the other side with the enforcers. The Red Punchers' attack patterns and technique told Manson that they weren't any ordinary gang at all.
To cap it all off, then there was the thing that happened to Manson himself.
It was right around when that Snapcrack Gang girl, Eustelle, had suddenly taken a hit from the enemy gang member, Axel Galen. She flew back into the inside of the saloon where Manson was hiding on the roof. Before he realized it, Manson found himself with his legs carrying him to her, checking to see if she was okay from the devastating impact.
There were some nasty bruises around her belly button, the skin turning blue as blueberries as Eustelle began to cough from the pain.
It was only when Manson tried to hold down the life-threatening bruises with his jacket, that he thought would somehow work to relieve the damage, that the "shadow" made the bruises around her stomach fade away.
He was paralyzed by the fear of what had just happened. It wasn't anything normal to begin with; it felt so unrealistic that he thought it was related to the Faden monsters that he read about a few years back.
So... he just ran. Letting the moment he stepped into the restaurant, Brastini's, be a way to move into other things that he should be worrying about.
Manson didn't stick around to see what happened with other members of Quad Four. He was simply afraid for what happened to him and what would become of him next time. For a power to somehow heal a person, it didn't look like that at all in the movies or games that he experienced. Unlike the healing attributed to anything "good" or from the light from above, he experienced the pain of trying to help somebody and the shadow that came over Eustelle in order to heal her.
To be honest, ever since he was a kid, he would always have these dreams of having powers so that his life would be way easier, but I guess when he was much older, Manson found himself not as enthusiastic as his younger self would be.
He tried to move on from the incident today, not talking about what happened to Harmist Lane to his friends and family, not even to the Quad Four; apparently, that did the trick.
But for today, right now, Manson decided it was best if he could just move on to a break in the library to just rest up from... whatever.
"Right now... I shoulda just go to the library to cool myself off, not like I have anything to do at all."
Walking to the front courtyard and the indoor hallways of the main building was a sight to behold. Rarely would you have a chance to take a picture of the lockers lining up and meeting at a point at the end of the hallway, if Manson had one of those expensive cameras to begin with.
As he exited the inside of the school building and into the central patio, Manson was surprised to see that one of the Quad Four, Sheila, was sitting on the ledges under the arches.
Manson called her name to get her attention.
"Hey Sheila, it's kinda rare for you to be in this part of the school at this hour. Is the library closed or something?"
Sheila got her nose out of the contents of the book she was holding. "Oh. Hey, Manson, fancy you seeing here. The reason I'm here at the central patio instead of the library is that the latter was closed off for students since a meeting for the school staff is going to take place soon."
Manson sighed. "Figures, and here I thought the one place I would finally relax with available air conditioners in place would be closed off today..."
Sheila anxiously twisted her sunny blonde hair as she crossed her shaking legs.
"Um, Manson, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Yeah...?" He pulled the joints in his knuckles to cause audible pops. "Spit it out."
"I need someone to walk with me to the front door of the bathroom with me, preferably on the second floor of the main school building."
"Um, are you sure you can't go there by yourself? If I go with you, people will think I'm weird for being a guy following a girl around to the bathroom and waiting right by."
Upon hearing his words, Sheila shook her head in return.
"Sorry, but I feel a little scared of going alone in the empty hallways of the school. I'm sure you understand that feeling, especially with how that incident with Jed Sampson in that bathroom in Honoway Mall."
After a few seconds, Manson finally caved in to her favor. "Right, fine, I have nothing to do anyways if I just sit around. And besides, Nate went with you since you were scared of being alone with so many people outside the restaurant we were in."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Sheila said as she stood up with her stuff now stuffed in her bag.
Manson and Sheila went inside the building and walked up the stairs to the second floor, where they now slowly made their way into the hallway in a straight line.
Manson and Sheila were mostly silent on the way, but the former decided to disrupt her thoughts and ask her something somewhat directly.
"Hey, Sheila..." Manson began. "Would it be weird for something to heal fast from just a person touching it, like there's some sort of special scientific explanation that you would probably know of?"
"Is this... related to an incident before..."
"... Never mind. I'm just confused and tired; it would just be a waste of time for you anyway..."
The two returned to the serene silence of walking together towards the girls' restroom.
* * *
Cloey was walking by in the hallway towards the girls' restroom on the second floor because her thirst was overpowering her tiredness, and she needed water to quench the thirst that was growing by the second.
As she was walking, there were two figures in the distance that at first she couldn't make out, but upon closer look, it was revealed that the two were Manson and Sheila.
"Hey, you guys!" Cloey rushed up to the two, making her eyes sparkle with happiness to mask the fact that she was dying for a chance to get a cold drink. "It's been a while, you two. What's up?!"
"Hi, Cloey, happy to see you too," Sheila admitted.
"You're here too?" Manson's mouth slightly gaping. "Huh, what's next? All three of us would run in Nate or Sam next? All five of us... together at Standart High?"
"By the way, Cloey, the library is closed to students, so we can't access it right now," Sheila stated to her.
"Yeah, I knew that. I just passed the library not too long ago," she said dejectedly. "And Sam, I still miss him, his hair, his voice..."
Sheila grabbed something from her bag and gave a bottle of liquid to Cloey.
"Um, I noticed that you looked kind of thirsty, and I was wondering if you could accept this orange juice bottle..."
Cloey beamed at the sight of the drink and immediately drank it from her hand as she practically worshipped her offering of kindness.
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you!"
"It's no problem at all," Sheila responded. "I was kinda done with it anywa—"
Suddenly, a roar shook the three of them, and it sounded like it came from outside the school building. The hallway, in response, made the lights momentarily flicker, and the dust crumble from the ceiling.
Manson held on to Sheila as she was falling to the ground, shaking. "What the hell?! Is it an earthquake?! Stay close, you guys!"
"Aaahhh!" Sheila squeaked in fear.
"That noise came right outside!" Cloey pointed out. "Let's check what's happening through the windows over there.
All three of them ran towards the nearest windows and looked through the glass.
From there, their view over the whole courtyard was met with the appearance of a lone man in raggedy clothes leading some sort of shadow-like army with various designs not unlike a toddler drawing random characters on a sheet of paper.
"That's Pallnem, over there!" Cloey shouted as he pointed to the old man in the front.
Sheila blinked from the terror unfolding outside. "He's here...?"
In Manson's point of view, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. First, Pallnem was here in the school after basically disappearing for a long time, and he returned with these monsters, these Fadens, based on the looks of it, with their green highlights over their skin. Why were there so many of them here? This type of situation looked so unreal to the eyes of Manson.
"Oh, no! Manson, look over there!" Cloey directed their attention towards the other monsters surrounding a group of terrified students in the middle of the lunch tables. "Those people need our help! We can't just stand around and do nothing; we gotta save them!"
"Cloey, just wait, there are a lot of monsters down there; we need to hide before—"
Manson tried to reach for Cloey's humanizing fear, but for her, it was a chance to help people in danger from being eaten by the monsters. To show herself that she could control her powers and not let anyone get hurt. It was this moment that she realized... that she may be the only chance that this school won't crumble down from the incoming monsters.
Besides, another motive for her to intervene was that it was a chance to show Manson and Sheila her awesome powers and how it wasn't scary at all when a good person was wielding it.
Meanwhile, only Sheila stared intently at the monsters grimly walking in every direction, looking for something to call prey.
"Alright! This is the chance for me to show you my power!" Cloey announced to the other two. "Just watch and see; you'll be shocked to find out what my Knightly Defender does when I'm in my most positive!"
Sheila tilted her head with puzzlement and worry. "Knightly Defender?"
"Cloey, now is not the time to speak crazy, especially when there is a crazy homeless man who we all thought was dead, who is now leading an army of monsters of some kind!" Manson heatedly exclaimed. "All of a sudden, you're speaking like Varedeth when she tried to enchant her 'potion' at the chemistry lab, and unsurprisingly, it blew up the whole lab room!"
"Guys! Let's just wait—"
Manson tried to call out, but Cloey was already gunning for the exit, hollering about how she had her power to protect the people caught by the monsters in the courtyard.
Without any other alternative, Manson tried to follow her as Sheila tagged along next to him, afraid of what might happen if she was alone without anyone to help.
From this point on, Pallnem has breached Standart High School's perimeter.